Passenger volume up at Egypt’s airports despite Iran war

Passenger volume at Egypt’s airports rose by 8 percent year on year in the period from March 1 to 29, despite the impact of the Iran war, which started on February 28.

Airports across the country received a total of 2.2 million passengers in the period, the cabinet said in a statement.

The total number of passengers in January and February reached 4.6 million, up from 4 million a year ago and a 53 percent increase on 2024.

Last month the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council said that the Middle East’s tourism sector was incurring losses of at least $600 million per day in international visitor spending due to the conflict.

The Middle East accounts for 5 percent of global international arrivals and 14 percent of global international transit traffic. Any disruption affects global demand, which, in turn, affects airports and flights, hotels, car hire companies and cruise lines.

Inbound arrivals to the Middle East could fall by 11 to 27 percent year on year in 2026, potentially wiping out $34 billion to $56 billion in visitor spending, depending on how quickly the conflict resolves, according to forecasts from the analytics and advisory company Oxford Economics.

Egypt has already increased the prices of fuel and train and metro tickets following the spike in oil and gas prices due to supply disruptions stemming from the conflict.

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