The activity at Rafic Hariri International Airport improved in the first four months of the year as the total number of passengers rose by an annual 13.9% to 2.55M by April 2018. This can be partly attributed to the rising number of total tourists in Lebanon in the first quarter, which grew by a yearly 5% to 362,398 in Q1 2018 alone. Moreover, Lebanon’s first parliamentary elections in 9 years were scheduled for May 6, 2018, and this may have also attracted some Lebanese into the country wishing to be involved in the process.
In details, the number of arrivals grew by 9.54% year-on-year (y-o-y) to reach 1.22M by April 2018. In their turn, departures climbed by a yearly 9.96% to reach 1.24M over the same period.
As for the number of transit passengers, it rose from 1,152 passengers by April 2017 to 1,354 passengers by Apr. 2018.
Total Number of Passengers by April
Source: Rafic Hariri International Airport