Airport International Group (AIG), the consortium responsible for the expansion and operation of Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, has reaffirmed the need for development at the gateway following a surge in passenger numbers during September.
The operator said that the latest passenger figures supported its plans to build extra capacity at the airport, after traffic reached a new record of 545,941 passengers last month - up 5.7% compared with September 2011.
Meanwhile, from January to the end of September, AIG said that Queen Alia International Airport handled a total of 4,827,192 passengers, an increase of 17.4% over the same period in 2011.
In response to this projected surge in passenger figures, AIG has so far invested $750 million in the construction of a landmark new terminal at the airport, which is now 91% complete.
Kjeld Binger, CEO of AIG, said: “As the opening of the new airport terminal is rapidly approaching, September’s results are very pleasing and promising.
“These positive results and the increases seen in previous months– despite political and social instability throughout the region – further support our confidence in the upcoming developments at the airport.”
The new terminal is designed to increase the airport’s capacity to 9 million passengers annually, nearly three times the current airport capacity of 3.5 million passengers.
Meanwhile, other future expansions that are in the pipeline will further increase the airport capacity to 12 million passengers a year, the operator said.
AIG has also spent $100 million on rehabilitating and improving the existing terminals, to enable the airport to handle this continuous growth in passenger traffic.
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