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The Middle East air travel market emerged as one of the strongest performers this summer, with passenger traffic in July nearly tripling last year's numbers, according to the latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Middle Eastern airlines' traffic surged 193.1% during the month compared to July 2021, registering the second-highest growth globally.
Overall, the top performers were carriers in the Asia-Pacific region, which posted a 528.8% rise in July, the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions.
Capacity for the Middle East region also rose 84.1% while load factor climbed 30.5 percentage points to 82%.
North American carriers came third with a 129.2% jump in traffic, followed by Latin American airlines with 119.4% growth.
European carriers saw July traffic rise by 115.6%, while those in Africa recorded an 84.8% rise.
According to Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General, airlines across the world performed strongly in July, with some markets approaching pre-COVID-19 levels despite capacity constraints.
"There is still more ground to recover, but this is an excellent sign as we head into the traditionally slower autumn and winter quarters in the Northern Hemisphere," Walsh said.
Travel has been picking up in the Middle East region as COVID-19 restrictions have started easing in many markets worldwide. At Dubai International (DXB), one of the busiest passenger hubs in the region, passenger traffic reached 279 million during the first half of the year, just 1.2 million shy of the airport's total annual traffic in 2021.
Total passengers during the second quarter reached 14.2 million, up by 190.6% from a year ago.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
