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 period in 2022, when about 20.4 million passengers were recorded, according to the Quarterly Economic Review issued by the Central Bank of the UAE.
Indicating that the civil aviation sector has managed to restore pre-pandemic passenger traffic levels, the apex bank mentioned that the size of cumulative investments in the UAE’s civil aviation sector exceeded AED1 trillion ($272 billion).
The Central Bank said its size of investments in the development and expansion of airports had hit AED 85 billion to accommodate over 300 million passengers annually.
As of 2022, the aviation sector in the UAE contributes, directly or indirectly, to about 14 per cent of GDP, compared to 2-3 per cent in major emerging markets and advanced economies.
