Rafic Hariri International Airport (RHIA) activity progressed during the first 2 months of 2016, as the total number of passengers increased by a yearly 21.90% to 1.09M. In details, the number of arrivals to Lebanon went up by 15.92% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) from 419,369 by February 2015 to 486,114 in the same period of 2016. Also, this period witnessed a 25.58% yearly increase in departures, which reached 596,583 by February 2016, compared to 475,059 by February 2015. This could be mainly due to the massive traffic of Syrian nationals through the Lebanese Airport that has been progressing through the worsening conditions in Syria and the suspension of the air traffic in the mentioned country. As for the number of transit passengers, it grew substantially from 2,113 passengers in the first two months of 2015 to 10,183 passengers by February 2016, which could be partly due to the tensions in neighboring countries where several airports may have become non-operational, driving passengers towards the Lebanese traveling route.
Total Number of Passengers by February
Source: Rafic Hariri International Airport