Bahrain Airport operated 986 flights a week last year

Manama : Bahrain International Airport (BIA) operated an average of 986 flights a week last year and handled a total of 8.7 million passengers, Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication revealed in its latest annual statistics report. 

The report published by the ministry noted that the passenger movements at the airport increased in 2016 over 2015.  

“With the increasing demand for air travel, Bahrain International Airport has experienced a growth in its passenger numbers and handled a total of 8.7 million passengers in 2016, an increase of 2 per cent in the total passenger movements over 2015. 

Arriving and departing aircraft increased by 1 per cent. However, Bahrain Flight Information Region (FIR) reached 631,041, a 3 per cent increase compared with 2015,” the Ministry stated in the report. 

“Bahrain International Airport in 2016 had 986 flights a week connecting to 52 destinations. Total aircraft movements recorded at the airport in 2016 were 101,345 movements, a growth of 1 per cent over the previous year,” the report added.

Dubai continued to be the most popular destination for people traveling from Bahrain (including transit) with 1,360,259 passengers traveling there. 

“Intra GCC and Indian subcontinent routes continued to see the largest volume of traffic. Traffic to Qatar increased by 4 per cent, Saudi Arabia by 4 per cent, Kuwait by 17 per cent, Oman by 19 per cent, and United Arab of Emirates by 5 per cent. Our national carrier, Gulf Air carried 5,278,831 passengers in 2016, which represents 60 per cent of total traffic through the airport. There was no change in the number of transfer passengers whilst a 39 per cent reduction was seen in transit passengers compared to 2015. A total of 144,001,814 US gallons of fuel were uplifted by airlines in 2016, no change over 2015. Overflying movements reached 529,696 which is an increase of 4 per cent over 2015,” the report stated.

Total cargo import and export handled at the airport reached 214,945 tonnes. A total of 2,115 tonnes of mail was handled in 2016 and the total transhipment of cargo and mail amounted to 46,896 tonnes.