Worldwide fuel crunch and supply chain disruptions are major concerns for aviation industry today. In fact, soaring fuel prices are pushing cost of air transportation to new heights. However, airport passengers in Lebanon are significantly encouraged after a long stagnation due to corona outbreak and Beirut explosion in August 2020. Consequently, the number of Beirut’s International airport passengers went up by 72.70%, as it recorded 3.10 million (M) passengers in September 2021 compared to 1.79M passengers during the same period last year.
The breakdown of the airport’s statistics revealed that total arrivals added 82.91% year-on-year (YOY) to hit 1.47 million by September 2021. By the same token, the number of departing passengers climbed by a yearly 68.47% to reach 1,570,957 over the same period. Nevertheless, transit passengers slightly decreased from 58,862 by September 2020 to 58,581 passengers by September 2021. This perhaps a sign of the “bad” times in Lebanon that the number of departing passengers exceeded the number of arriving passengers late in the summer season!
In addition, data on occupancy as per E&Y benchmark survey revealed that the occupancy rate in Beirut’s 4- and 5-star hotels reached 33% by May 2021, up from last year’s registered 19% during the same period. Furthermore, the average room rate has increased by 318.2% from $77 in May 2020 to $324 in May 2021, which led to an upsurge in RevPAR (Revenue per available room) growth of 4,243.6% during the same period; from $4 to $162 in May 2021. Important to mention, that the increase is inflated by valuing the room rates at the official exchange rate of LBP 1,500 for USD.
Beirut’s Airport Activity By September
Source: Beirut International Airport, BlomInvest