Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia-Pacific.

Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific has welcomed the restoration of connectivity to Qatar.

The border reopening, initially with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, will re-establish connectivity within the Middle East and help the restart and recovery of the aviation sector post-pandemic.

Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia-Pacific said: “The Middle East has suffered tremendously in 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak, reporting a loss both in terms of passenger traffic and revenues above 70% compared to pre-Covid estimates.

“Restoring regional airspace and airport connectivity is an important step in the recovery of the airport sector and aviation as a whole. It will also support the growth trajectory of the Middle East for the future on a global level.”

Total passenger volume in the Middle East will reach around 1.2 billion by 2040, representing an almost threefold increase from the 405 million passengers pre-Covid-19 in 2019. This is according to latest ACI World Air Traffic forecasts.

Baronci concluded: “A policy roadmap at regional level focused on testing as a replacement for quarantine measures for connecting countries with lower or equivalent risks would be a further boost to the global ambitions of the region.”