The UAE airports received as many as 31.8 million passengers in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 11.5 million passengers from the same year-ago period, the latest official data showed.
According to the Quarterly Economic Review issued by the Central Bank of the UAE, with a huge jump in passenger arrivals, the civil aviation sector in the country has managed to restore pre-pandemic passenger traffic levels.
The apex bank data also showed the size of cumulative investments in the Emirates’ civil aviation sector exceeded AED1 trillion, while the size of investments in the development and expansion of airports hit AED85 billion to accommodate over 300 million passengers annually.
As of 2022, the aviation sector in the UAE contributed, directly or indirectly, to about 14 percent of the country’s GDP, compared to just 2-3 percent in major emerging markets and advanced economies.
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