Cyprus Airways' passengers on Middle East and Gulf routes accounted for 13.1 percent of the company's total traffic. Some 216,435 passengers flew on the Middle East routes with the airline in 2002, an 8.4 percent increase over 2001.
Beirut flights were the top performers for Cyprus Airways in the Middle East, recording 28.3 percent passenger growth rate. Dubai recorded a 1.7 percent increase on 2001 while Bahrain was up 3.7 percent. In Saudi Arabia, Cyprus Airways passenger numbers to and from Riyadh grew 6.2 percent.
The airline carried 1,654,719 passengers on all routes in 2002, 9.9 percent up on the previous year and the second-largest increase the carrier has recorded in a decade. It currently operates a network covering 33 airports in 20 countries. Of these, 24 are in Europe and nine in the Middle East and Gulf.
The International Air transport Association (IATA) has just reported a four percent world-wide drop in the numbers of scheduled passengers for 2002 compared to the previous year. The picture in Europe is even gloomier where the Association of European Airlines (AEA) says the losses are eight per cent over the same period. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
