COMCEC Transport and Communications
Outlook 2019
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3.4. AIR TRANSPORT
There is a large variation in the air traffic figures between the OIC Member States. On the one
hand, several OIC countries achieve highest air traffic globally. As can be seen in Table 12, there
are three airports from the OIC region that are ranked in the top 20 for passenger air passenger
traffic and two airports in the top 20 busiest airports in terms of air cargo traffic as of 2017.
Table 11: OIC airports ranked in the top 20 for passenger and air cargo traffic (2017)
PASSENGER CARGO
City (Airport) Passengers City (Airport) Metric Tonnes
Dubai, UAE 88 242 099 Dubai, UAE
2 654 494
Istanbul, Turkey 64 119 374 Doha, Qatar 2 020 942
Jakarta, Indonesia 63 015 620
Source: Author from Airports Council International
On the other hand, several OIC member countries lack an operating airport and accordingly fail
to experience any air traffic movement. As can be seen in Table 13, among all OIC countries,
Turkey, Indonesia, and UAE had the highest air passenger traffic in 2017. In terms of
geographical classification, Turkey, UAE, and Saudi Arabia in the MENA; Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire,
and Mozambique in the Sub-Saharan Africa; and Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan in the Asia
were the top three OIC member countries with highest air passenger movement. Nevertheless,
almost two thirds of the air passengers is carried at MENA region while one third is carried at
Asia.
Table 12: Air passengers carried at the OIC Member States (2017)
MENA Sub-Saharan Africa Asia
Turkey 107,917,326 Nigeria 3,446,717 Indonesia 110,252,913
UAE 95,306,296 Cote d'Ivoire 788,098 Malaysia 58,188,823
Saudi Arabia 37,503,000 Mozambique 569,829 Pakistan 9,919,768
Qatar 29,949,181 Togo 500,686 Kazakhstan 5,653,190
Iran 19,282,796 Mauritania 418,817 Bangladesh 3,785,509
Egypt 12,017,179 Sudan 328,741 Uzbekistan 2,581,865
Oman 9,065,019 Cameroon 236,000 Azerbaijan 2,331,308
Morocco 8,436,970 Burkina Faso 145,049 Afghanistan 1,858,558
Algeria 6,241,924 Gabon 77,320 Maldives 1,485,752
Kuwait 5,586,034 Uganda 54,937 Turkmenistan 1,279,937
Bahrain 5,190,484 The Gambia 53,735 Brunei Darussalam 1,172,201
Tunisia 4,194,174 Senegal 21,038 Kyrgyz Republic 1,127,285
Jordan 3,381,677 Niger 14,713 Tajikistan 796,383
Lebanon 2,869,266 Somalia 4,486 Suriname 284,935
Iraq 2,170,504
Libya 1,186,424
Yemen, Rep. 132,571
Source: Author from the World Bank World Development Indicators