Aviation business in Middle East and North African countries grew by 8.2 per cent in the first seven months of 2009, compared with the same period of 2008, dpa quoted Regional Vice President of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Majdi Sabri, as saying today. This compared sharply with a 6.8 per cent retreat in the global air traffic activity between January and July this year, Sabri was quoted as saying in an interview with the official Petra news agency. "This is because countries of the Middle East and North African have been less affected by the global recession than other parts of the world," he said. He also attributed the improvement in the regional air traffic industry partly to the rebound in oil prices, which he said had had "a positive effect on the economic, commercial and tourism activity in the region." Sabri said that the growth in the air transport activity in the region was also due to the development of the region's air traffic infrastructure, particularly the construction of modern airports, and the improvement in services extended by regional airlines. "This encouraged larger numbers of tourists, businessmen and investors to travel from Europe to the Middle East which enabled regional airlines to increase their share of the world's air transport activity," he added. However, the IATA official discerned a reduction in earnings of regional airlines, mainly due to the "severe competition" that developed among them in the course of scramble to secure larger shares of the aviation market.
