Doha major destination of flights from Abu Dhabi Monday, 12 July 2010 01:09

Doha was the third biggest destination of flights originating at Abu Dhabi Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after Manila in the Philippines and London in the United Kingdom, a study conducted in May said.

The study said traffic in Abu Dhabi Airport increased by 12 percent during the same month, while cargo shipping rose by 19.4 per cent.

“Plane landing and take-off also saw an increase of 12.4 percent,” the study added.

It noted that around 159,609 passengers travelled to Manila in May, which brings the rise in the number of travellers to this destination to 19.2 per cent compared with the corresponding month last year.

The study, conducted by Dubai Ports, which manages the Abu Dhabi Airport, said Manila was classified as the most active destination.

The British capital London follows in the list, which also included Doha, which was the third most active recipient of flights from the UAE airport, the study said.

The Thai city of Bangkok, however, took a tumble in the list and stood fourth as a recipient of flights from Abu Dhabi due to the political anarchy that sweeps through Thailand at present, it added. Bahrain was ranked fifth.

“There’s continuous growth in the number of passengers and traffic in Abu Dhabi Airport thanks to a thriving air travel market across the world,” said Ahmed Al Hadabi, an operations official from Dubai Ports. “In South America, air transport grew by 104 per cent in May compared with the corresponding month last year,” he added.

He said air transport in both Africa and Europe grew by 58 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

“The Middle East came in the fourth position in terms of air transport with a rise of 13 per cent, followed by the Indian subcontinent where air transport grew by 12 per cent,” Al-Hadabi said.

He expected the growth to continue as more airlines went to Abu Dhabi Airport

THE PENINSULA