Civil Aviation announces the highest number of passengers

Riyadh, March 16, 2019

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) announced the highest number of passengers and flights that have passed through the Kingdom airports in 2018, compared to the previous years.  The numbers were recorded for the first time in the history of aviation in the Kingdom.

Official statistics which were produced by GACA recorded the number of passengers that have passed through the Kingdom’s airports in 2018, the number have broken the (99.86) million passengers limit, traveling through (771,829) flight, through the Kingdom’s international and domestic airports.

The growth percentage in the number of passengers grew by (8%) during 2018, compared to the previous year.  The total number of passenger traffic have reached (92.42) million passengers.  Furthermore, the number of flights during 2018 have recorded a growth rate of (4.1%) to reach (741,293), in comparison to 2017.

The Kingdom’s international airports have recorded a growth in passenger’s traffic movement during the year ending 2018, where passengers flying through these airports have reached (97.3) million passengers, while the number of flights have reached (741,893) flight.  It is worth noting that the number of passengers traveling through the Kingdom’s domestic airports during 2018 have reached (2.6) million passengers, traveling on (29,935) flights.  

It is worth noting, that King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah came in first, as one of the busiest airport in passengers traffic during 2018, where (35.8) million passengers passed through the airport.  King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh came in second with (27.9) million passengers.  Furthermore, King Fahd International Airport came in third with (10.4) million passengers, while, Prince Mohmmed bin Abdulaziz International Airpot came in fourth place with (8.8), followed by Abha International Airport in fifth place with (4.5) million passengers.

Furthermore, GACA, pointed out to the its top five destinations, where the UAE came in first, followed by Egypt, which came in second.  Pakistan and India shared the third and fourth consecutively, followed by Turkey in the fifth place as the top five international destinations.

It is worth noting, that GACA receives great and continuous support from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and HRH Price Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, furthermore, GACA is executing several initiatives and programs which contributed to the development of the air transport system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  All in an effort to achieve the leadership’s vision in developing the civil aviation infrastructure in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and raise the sector contribution toward the national economy.