Saudi Arabia is emerging as a key part of the international aviation market with Riyadh and Jeddah rivalling Dubai as the standout destination, according to new research.
As well as featuring in four of the world’s busiest international routes in March, Jeddah to Riyadh (620,090 seats) was also included in the top 10 domestic routes published by aviation analysts OAG.
OAG’s latest data showed that Dubai’s DXB Airport remained the world’s busiest international hub this month despite the loss of its Kuwait route from the top 10, replaced by Cairo-Riyadh.
Its routes serving Riyadh, Jeddah and Bahrain in the GCC region and the number one European destination, London Heathrow remained among the world’s busiest.
Dubai again ranked ahead of London Heathrow and Amsterdam while Doha also featured in the top 10.
Dubai also retained its second place in the busiest global airports behind Atlanta in the US.
But a growing trend during March is the increasing prominence of multiple Saudi routes.
OAG said Riyadh and Jeddah both have two routes each in the top 10, making the Middle East the dominant force in the busiest international routes sector.
Dubai-Riyadh was the busiest with 259,832 seats, followed by Cairo-Jeddah (231,161) and Dubai-London Heathrow (220,242).
Other Gulf routes in the top 10 included fifth-placed Dubai-Jeddah (170,264), Cairo-Riyadh (163,416) and Bahrain-Dubai (145,868).
The figures come after Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said travel demand is seeing “exponential growth” and is currently at 75 percent of what its pre-coronavirus following the lifting of most coronavirus restrictions.
Griffiths said he expects this momentum to increase as the summer season approaches so long as there is political stability.
DXB is expecting to see about 56-57 million passengers, well down on pre-pandemic levels but Griffiths said confidence in travel is returning.
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