Abu Dhabi Airports to receive Turkmenistan flights; plans new private jet hangars | Abu Dhabi Airports

Abu Dhabi Airports (ADA) will see flights from Turkmenistan to Abu Dhabi inside two weeks, and it plans to construct new hangars at Al Bateen Govt Airport because of the rise in demand for post-pandemic private-jet journey, stated Francois Bourienne, the ADA’s chief business officer at Abu Dhabi Air Expo 2022.

“We may have Turkmenistan beginning some flights from Ashgabat to Abu Dhabi two weeks from now,” stated Bourienne.

October was a very good month for the ADA, he stated, with Vistara beginning flights from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi early within the month and Ariana Afghan Airways resuming flights to Al Ain in the course of October after seven years.

“We’re in discussions with 20 to 30 airways at any given level, however issues take time to materialise. At the moment, we nonetheless have a number of the airways from the area exhibiting some curiosity, however they needed to delay their flights because of their deal with different areas and regulatory points akin to visitors rights. However Abu Dhabi continues to be of their plans for subsequent 12 months,” stated Bourienne.

Apart from Bateen, ADA owns and operates Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport, Al Ain Worldwide Airport, Delma Island Airport and Sir Bani Yas Island Airport. The airport operator now expects the Gulf hub to deal with at the very least 13 million passengers in 2022, up from an earlier projection in February of 10.07 million.

Bourienne added that the main target has elevated on Al Bateen Govt Airport. “We’re engaged on core elements of the undertaking akin to enhancing the VIP lounge visitor expertise. Now we have seen that the personal jet companies are booming, and so we’re additionally taking a look at constructing extra hangars, as a result of all of the out there ones have been rented over the previous couple of weeks,” he stated. 

“Many individuals who tried [commercial travel] through the pandemic don’t wish to return to business planes. And on this area, because of the excessive temperatures and the mud, having hangars is a should,” he added. He famous, nonetheless, that these plans have been in “early levels of dialogue”, which meant that timelines and the numbers of hangars to be constructed have been but to be confirmed.

In passenger visitors, the third quarter of 2022 supplied good outcomes. “Within the third quarter of this 12 months, we recovered 80% of the visitors of 2019,” Bourienne stated. “In Q2, we have been round 68 p.c, and we had in extra of 4.5 million passengers over the three months of the summer time. And looking out ahead to This fall, we’re even taking a look at 85% restoration. So, we go from power to power.”

Passenger visitors at Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport almost quadrupled through the second quarter of 2022 amid a resurgence in demand and the easing of journey restrictions in key markets all over the world, The Nationwide reported.

Within the first six months of 2022, passenger visitors jumped fivefold to six.3 million throughout the emirate’s 5 airports, with Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport alone accounting for six.2 million of that whole.