Queen Alia International Airport announces traffic performance results for the first quarter of 2011

Airport International Group (AIG), the Jordanian company responsible for the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA),announced the airport’s passenger and aircraft movement traffic results for the first quarter of 2011, with continued growth despite the instability in parts of the region.

QAIA welcomed 1,124,035 passengers in the first quarter, up 2.4%, compared to 1,097,400 in 2010. Aircraft movementsfor the quarter climbed 3.1% with 14,419 movements compared to 13,989 in 2010. Cargo movement totaled 20,668 tonnes, an increase by 1.4% compared to same period last year.

Commenting on these results, AIG’s Chief Executive Officer Curtis Grad said: “We are pleased with these results, considering the current geopolitical situation in the region and the general decline in travel with the MENA region, as a result.In the context of the current circumstances, QAIA’s continued growth demonstrates the resilience of the Jordanian market and our unique position as a preferred regional hub and airport of choice, which has been further reinforced by the open skies agreement recently signed between Jordan and the EU.”

QAIA has welcomed a multitude of new carriers, routes and additional flight frequencies over the last three years, from a broad range of scheduled air carriers including new services by: Royal Jordanian, Air Arabia, easyJet, Austrian, Alitalia, Vueling, FlyDubai, airBaltic, Iberia and Tarom Romanian; in addition to new charter services by Air Mediterranee, MINT Airways, XL Airways, Armavia Air and many others. Since 2007, QAIA passenger traffic has risen from 3.8m to 5.4m annually, while total flight frequencies have increased from ~400/week to well in excess of 650/week in the summer of 2010, and the number of carriers has grown from 28 to well over 40 in the same period, with destinations expanding from 58 to 64. 

The USD750 million rehabilitation and expansion works at QAIA are well underway, including the construction of a new state-of-the-art 100,000 square meter passenger terminal. AIG is a Jordanian company with private shareholding by Invest AD (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Noor Financial Investment Company (Kuwait), Edgo Group (Jordan), Joannou&Paraskevaides (Overseas) Limited (Cyprus), J&P-Avax (Greece) and Aéroports de Paris Management (France).