AMMAN: The Queen Alia International Airport’s (QAIA) has seen an increase in cargo traffic by 4.9 percent year-to-date (YTD), totaling at 31,290 tons between January and April 2015.
According to a QAIA statement, the Kingdom’s prime gateway witnessed an 8.5-percent YTD decrease in the monthly passenger traffic (PAX) between January and April 2015, reaching 2,089,816 passengers, compared to 2,282,894, during the same period in 2014.
As for the aircraft movements (ACM), it also dipped by 6.5 percent to register at 21,644 ACM as opposed to 23,153 ACM a year earlier. The decrease in traffic during the first four months of the year was primarily attributed to the cancellation of routes, paired with ongoing disturbances in neighboring countries, which led to fewer passengers and flights passing through the region and arriving at QAIA, the statement said.
A closer look at the statistics shows January’s monthly passengers slipping 2.8 percent from last year to total at 533,105 PAX, in addition to a 3.8 percent fall in ACM figures to reach 5,459 ACM, whereas cargo traffic went up 0.1 percent with 6,825 tons.
Likewise, the month of February saw a decline in both PAX and ACM figures, as PAX went down 15.5 percent to reach 451,097and ACM dropped by 8.1 percent to stand at 4,968, while cargo traffic significantly jumped by 5.2 percent as a result of handling 6,996 tons of cargo. In March, PAX decreased by 7.3 percent to come in at 527,075 and ACM declined by 7.5 percent to register at 5,517 flights, while marking a 5.3 percent increase over the same month last year for cargo traffic with 8,727 tons.