Transit gains at Jordan’s QAIA could help tourism drive

The number of passengers transiting through Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport jumped 23.5% percent in the first half of 2011, illustrating the airport’s growing importance as a hub and raising the potential for tourist stop-overs. 

The opening next year of a new $800 million terminal, financed by Airport International Group, will provide state-of-the-art facilities that are vital for attracting more transit passengers, who can be targeted with special stop-over deals by airlines and hoteliers. 

The public-private partnership project to develop and operate QAIA is a key factor in plans to boost the economy. The government launched a strategy in late July to nearly double tourism revenues to JD 4.2 billion in 2015, from JD2.4 billion in 2010. The industry accounts for around 15 percent of Jordan’s gross domestic product (GDP). 

“We’ve already seen impressive growth in visitor arrivals in recent years, and there’s excellent potential for increasing tourism revenue further and rapidly,” said Nayef Al-Fayez, Managing Director of the Jordan Tourism Board. “An efficiently run modern airport is central to our plans, so we’re working closely with AIG to market Jordan’s impressive tourism offering, to attract more airlines and increase flights to Amman.” 

Just over 485,000 transit passengers used the airport in the first six months of this year, compared to just over 392,000 in the same period of 2010. The proportion of passengers in transit rose to 20 percent of the total, from 16 percent a year earlier. 

As part of its new terminal project, AIG is increasing the retail space by 25 percent to 6,366 sq m, which should make QAIA more attractive as a hub for transit traffic. 

The new terminal is designed to allow passengers to proceed rapidly from gates, through security, and to the transit lounge and shopping areas.The number of retail outlets will increase to 39, from 29 now. 

AIG is also ensuring the new terminal provides high standards for everything that passengers value, including clear signage, sufficient flight information screens, comfortable seating in waiting areas, and high levels of service at the customer assistance counter. 

Since AIG began its partnership with the Jordanian government in 2007, annual passenger numbers are up about 40 percent and flights to and from Amman have increased by over a third to more than 650 a week. 

So far this year, passenger numbers have held steady despite regional political turbulence, with June figures up 3.8 percent on last year. 

AIG and Jordan’s tourism authorities are working closely to attract airlines to Amman, at global airline industry events and through bilateral negotiations. National carrier Royal Jordanian is a key player in the trend to raise transit passenger numbers, increasing the frequency of its flights to several destinations in Europe and Asia in the last year.