Riyadh & Jeddah airports in Saudi Arabia are taking the fight to Doha’s Hamad International Airport as the movement battle continues in the Middle East.
Using data from RadarBox.com, we will see how all three airports are performing and how this could alter the rankings within the region.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Doha’s Hamad Movement Numbers Up Nearly 20%…
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From May 30-June 6, Doha-based Hamad International Airport handled 675 flights based on a seven-day rolling average provided by the flight tracking company.
This represents an increase of 19.05% compared to the same period last year and is 51 movements ahead of pre-pandemic figures.
Below is the last four weeks’ worth of data from the airport:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| May 2-9 | 595 movements | 564 movements | 661 movements | +17.20% |
| May 9-16 | 590 movements | 566 movements | 661 movements | +16.78% |
| May 16-23 | 589 movements | 560 movements | 666 movements | +18.93% |
| May 23-30 | 613 movements | 565 movements | 661 movements | +16.99% |
What we can see from the data is that the airport in Doha is growing at a strong rate compared to last year, as well as 2019 as well, which is the direction that Hamad wants to be in.
Jeddah Was Outperforming At One Point, With Riyadh Catching Up…
Jeddah at one point was outperforming Hamad International Airport, Doha, averaging into the 800s in April time, but this has dropped off since.
From May 30-June 6, the airport handled 617 movements, which is an increase of 12.39% compared to the same period last year.
This actually matches Jeddah’s 2019 numbers for that week, with the graph above showing the drop-off, with no signs of it ending currently.
As for Riyadh, they are getting a lot closer to Doha than Jeddah currently is at moment, having handled 640 movements between May 30-June 6.
This represents an increase of 10.73% compared to the same period last year, with this being ahead of 2019’s levels by 141 movements.
Riyadh’s traffic does seem to be on the rise, which is highlighting the beginning of strong growth from the likes of SAUDIA (Also in Jeddah as well), and will be set to rise with the introduction of Riyadh Air over the next few years.
This means that Doha will have to come up with ways of getting additional flights into Hamad going into the future.
