Ground Support Worldwide

APR 2017

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22 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE APRIL 2017 INTERNATIONAL By Mario Pierobon The ground handling industry has a key role to play in the expanding aviation industry in order to take advantage of opportunities and overcome challenges that an industry expansion implies. How the Middle East is Handling Increased Traffic Volumes T he Middle East region is witnessing a very significant growth in the aviation industry. According to statistics computed by the Inter- national Air Transport Association (IATA) – made available at the end of 2016 – the Middle East region appears to be the only region of the world that has consistently witnessed over the last five years a double digit percentage growth year over year in terms of both passenger traffic and capacity. "Middle Eastern airlines have one of the lower break-even load factors. Average yields are low but unit costs are even lower, partly driven by the strength of capacity growth," reads IATA's 2016 End-year report. The aircraft ground handling industry has a key role to play in the context of a strongly expanding aviation industry in order to both take advantage of the opportunities and overcome the challenges that an industry expansion implies. One of the challenges concerns the adequacy of the aircraft ground handling infrastructure in the region to cater for increasing traffic volumes. "Generally speaking, there are no significant ground-handling shortages observed in the region today, although a few exceptions exist," says Shamel Shishani, IATA's regional director – airport, pas- senger, cargo and security for the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Photo courtesy of dnata

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