Arab Aviation and Media Summit shows travel impact on economy

MANAMA — The 2015 Arab Aviation and Media Summit (AAMS) concluded on Tuesday after 200 participants gathered for two days to exchange views on the significance of the avia-tourism sector on regional economies.

Bahrain's Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal Bin Ahmed Mohammed said his country was the first to build an international airport in the Gulf area in 1932, and the first to receive a Concord flight in 1976.

Air Arabia Group Chief Executive Officer Adel Ali told aviation leaders and media representatives that the region suffers unemployment and the industry can take millions of people.

"Countries can be divided into two categories; one which viewed aviation as an integral part of the economy and achieved great successes in many business sectors," Ali said, adding that the second achieved little growth as it viewed aviation as a sector that should be restricted for the national carrier with limited other airlines.

Hussain Dabbas, regional vice president of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the association celebrates its 70th anniversary this year under the motto "Flying better together".

"There are around 1,400 airlines today with some 25,000 aircrafts serving 3,800 airports across the world," Dabbas indicated, pointing out that the contribution of aviation amounts to  $2.4 trillion of the global the gross domestic product, a number which would make aviation the 19th largest economy of the world if aviation was a country.

The IATA official added that airlines in 2015 are expected to carry 3.5 billion passengers at an average of 9.6 million passengers a day, which exceeds the total number of passengers transported throughout  1945 when 57 airlines established IATA.

Arab Air Carriers Organisation Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha said the potential for countries to use aviation to develop their economies to create jobs cannot be greater that it is in the Arab world.

"Arabs enjoy the culture of hospitality, treasure of the historical and cultural sites, summer leisure trips and having multilingual peoples," Teffaha indicated describing these attractions as big factors Arabs can employ to develop their economies through using aviation to stimulate tourism.

Fouad Attar, managing director of Airbus Middle East, referred to the problem of the aviation traffic being doubled without doubling airplanes to cope with the increasing numbers of travellers to the region.

AAMS takes place in a different Arab city every year drawing attention to the host city's travel and tourism experience as well as facilitating for a large audience of governments, decision makers and media to share, learn and exchange, according to organisers.