Qatar airport goals to beat passenger document

DOHA: Qatar’s most important worldwide airport goals to go a document 40 million passengers this yr because the Gulf state seeks to construct on staging the World Cup to bolster its repute, its tourism chief stated Sunday.

Hamad Worldwide Airport recorded 39.5 million passengers in 2019 earlier than the coronavirus pandemic struck, and final week introduced that with the World Cup in November and December, numbers had recovered to 35.7 million in 2022.

Tourism minister and Qatar Airways chief govt Akbar Al-Baker stated capability restrictions on the airport held again numbers final yr.

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“If we didn’t have scarcity of capability we might have exceeded the 2019 figures,” Baker instructed reporters on the sidelines of asserting a jewelry and watch present, the newest in a collection of occasions aiming to attract worldwide guests.

“I’m not glad with 39.5 million passengers,” he added.

“We hope that this yr we’ll break a document within the numbers of passengers that may go via Hamad.

“Understand that there isn’t any extra FIFA (World Cup) so crossing that document quantity will actually be an enormous achievement and quite a lot of stress on Qatar Tourism to convey individuals,” he stated.

The rich Gulf state is spending billions of {dollars} increasing capability at Hamad airport to 70 million individuals a yr and rising Qatar Airways routes because it seeks to change into a dominant participant in worldwide journey.

Arch-rival Dubai airport within the United Arab Emirates introduced in November that it anticipated 64.3 million passengers in 2022.