Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Continuing its upward traffic trend, Airport International Group (AIG) – the Jordanian company responsible for the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of the Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) – reported positive results for passenger traffic (PAX) at QAIA for April 2013.

Up by 1.4% compared to April 2012, PAX reached 536,559 this April as opposed to the 529,220 PAX recorded during the same month last year, brining year-to-date (YTD) PAX to 2,009,083 – a +4.4% increase when considering that YTD PAX in 2012 stood at 1,924,228. On the other hand, aircraft movement (ACM) decreased by a marginal 1.9% to reach 5,500 ACM in April 2013 compared to the 5,607 ACM achieved in April 2012. Despite this slight downturn in traffic, 2013 YTD ACM increased by 2.1% to 21,421 in comparison to YTD ACM over the same period in 2012, which accounted for 20,980 ACM.

Attributing recent results to rising regional passenger and cargo demand, AIG CEO Kjeld Binger said that QAIA traffic is expected to continue to increase as Jordan benefits from the strong traffic growth that Middle East carriers have been experiencing. “The Middle East’s aviation industry has experienced the strongest traffic growth for any region according to International Air Transport Association reports. As an active transfer hub and tourism destination, Jordan is expected to play an increasingly important role in channeling traffic in the region, especially now that QAIA enjoys significantly improved infrastructure and passenger capacity.”