Dubrovnik Airport sees slowest year since 1999

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

Doha becomes Middle East’s busiest

In the battle to be the pre-eminent travel hub in the Middle East, the latest research from ForwardKeys has revealed that Doha seized and consolidated a lead over Dubai in the first half of 2021. In the period January 1 -June 30, the volume of air tickets issued for travel via Doha was 18% higher than it was through Dubai; and that relationship looks set to continue. Current bookings for the second half of the year through Doha are 17% higher than through Dubai. At the start of the year, air traffic through Doha was at 77% of Dubai; but it quickly reached 100% for the first time during the week commencing January 27. The major factor driving the trend was the lifting, of the blockade of flights to and from Qatar this January, which was imposed in June 2017 by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorism - an accusation it strongly denies. Since January, five routes were restored by Qatar Airways in the region and new routes launched further afield. Olivier Ponti, Vice President of insights at ForwardKeys, said, “Without the blockade, which encouraged the establishment of new routes as a strategy to replace lost traffic, perhaps we would not have seen Doha charging past Dubai. So, it seems that the seeds of Doha’s relative success were, ironically, sown by the adverse actions of its neighbours. However, one needs to bear in mind that flights through the Middle East during first half of 2021 were still 81 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. So, as the recovery gathers pace, the picture could change significantly”. The last major factor, which has given Qatar an edge over Dubai, has been its reaction to the pandemic. During the height of the Covid-19 crisis, many routes in and out of Doha remained operational, with the result that Doha became a major hub for repatriation flights - most notably to Johannesburg and Montreal.
Source: Breaking Travel News

Dubrovnik Airport sees slowest year since 1999

NEWS FLASH

Dubrovnik Airport handled 330.147 passengers in 2020 representing a decrease of 88.6% on the year before and its worst result since 1999. The airport was closed for commercial traffic almost two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The number of aircraft movements was down 67.3% to 8.486. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News recently, Dubrovnik Airport’s General Manager, Frano Luetić, said, “Announcements for the upcoming season are excellent. The number of planned flights are very big, while at the recently held SLOT conference, we finalised up to four million seats in and out of Dubrovnik for next summer. Therefore, we will have flights from more than sixty destinations. However, it all depends on how bookings will evolve. Those working in the tourism sector must now do their part in order to fill these seats. Because, if that doesn’t happen, airlines will simply cancel flights”.

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Dubrovnik Airport sees slowest year since 1999

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