ACI suggests investment of over $150bln to expand capacity of
Middle Eastern airports
An international body of airport operators has suggested that airports
in the Middle East will need to invest $151 billion in capacity expansion as
travel demand is set to surge over the next several years.
According to Airports
Council International (ACI), the global air passenger demand is expected to
increase more than two-fold in the next two decades, from 9.2 billion
passengers in 2019 to around 19 billion in 2040.
The Middle East, including Asia Pacific, will see passengers growing to
around 11 billion by 2040, representing 58% of the global volumes.
“This necessitates an investment totaling $2.4 trillion for [Middle East
and Asia-Pacific] airports until 2040 to accommodate this growth,” ACI said on
Thursday.
Failure to expand airport capacity will be costly, ACI said. It said
that for each one million annual passengers foregone due to lack of airport
capacity in 2040, an average of 10,500 jobs will be lost and the gross domestic
product (GDP) will drop by $346 million.
Meanwhile, global aviation
industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 slump despite ongoing global
headwinds and geopolitical instability. Passenger demand has been rising since
the lifting of travel restrictions.
However, the war in Ukraine, rising oil prices and inflationary
pressures are still “casting a shadow on the overall recovery of the industry”,
according to ACI.
“The consistent improvement in passenger volumes… is a positive
indication of a sustained recovery of the industry following prolonged efforts
towards rebuilding passenger confidence in air travel,” said Stefano Baronci,
Director General of ACIA Asia-Pacific.
There have been plans to build new airports from scratch to accommodate
growing passenger volumes. Around the world, around 300 new airports have been
proposed.
Out of the planned airports, 57% are in Asia Pacific alone, while South
Asia accounts for 18%, Southeast Asia 17% and Emerging East Asia 12%, according
to ACI.
Source: Zawya.com