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UAE Shines As GCC Poise To Attract $45bn Investments By 2014, KFC Report |
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The GCC civil aviation sector is poised to attract more than $45 billion (Dh165bn) in investments over the next five years, according to a new research by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz). The UAE is well ahead of other GCC countries on this count, with its new Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali’s Dubai World Central development due to open in the middle of next year, and with the airport expected to increase the country’s capacity by an additional 120 million passengers, says the report carried by a local daily. The Emirates Business while quoting the report has said that UAE’s total investments up to 2014 are estimated to be about $22.3bn, Qatar is likely to follow with $14bn worth of spending, and Saudi Arabia $5.3bn. There are currently more than $50bn worth of aviation infrastructure projects in the Middle East, planned to cater to rising passenger traffic and freight demand at regional airports. "We estimate that the needed investments to sustain this expansion would be in the range of $45-50bn concentrated primarily in the UAE and Qatar," the report said. And the total number of passengers using the GCC’s largest airports are expected to grow to nearly 280 million by 2014 compared to 126 million in 2008, with the passenger traffic in the GCC likely to grow at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 12 per cent between 2008 and 2014. There are about 37 airports in the GCC at present, of which more than 30 are in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the report highlighted. While Saudi Arabia has four international airports and 22 domestic airports, with international airports accounting for 85 per cent of passenger traffic, the UAE accounted for 45 per cent of airport capacity in August 2009 followed by Saudi Arabia, with 26 per cent. Meanwhile, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar have become the regional leaders by adopting an open skies policy, which, according to the report, has played a key role in the development of the aviation industry in these countries. "The GCC aviation industry was abuzz with activity during the past several years thanks to the oil boom. Passenger traffic growth averaged nine per cent during 2002-2008 while in some economies such as the UAE it even exceeded the average and touched 13 per cent annual growth. This is in stark contrast to rest of the world, which was in the region of one to three per cent," it said. It added that massive expansion programmes were initiated both at the airport infrastructure level as well as fleet expansion. Even though the Middle East accounts for "less than 10 per cent of world traffic and revenues", the share of fleet orders are "disproportionately higher". With six international airports with two under construction and projects worth $22.3bn in various stages of development, the UAE leads the region in terms of development of aviation infrastructure. Dubai International Airport remains as one of the world’s busiest airports, ranking sixth in terms of international passenger traffic and fourth in terms of international freight traffic. The passenger traffic in the first eight months of 2009 increased 6.7 per cent year-on-year to 26.87 million, while the same showed a decline of seven per cent for worldwide passenger traffic. Dubai International expects total passengers to reach 40.5 million by the end of 2009 and top 46 million in 2010, the report said. |
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