The number of passengers travelling via the Beirut International Airport (BIA) rose by 26.90% y-o-y in the first four months of 2023 to 1,906,220, up from 1,502,129 passengers in the same period last year. This rebound in the number of passengers is attributed to the large influx of the Lebanese diaspora visiting the country to celebrate the Easter and Fitr holidays. More specifically, the number of arriving travelers rose by 26.83% y-o-y to 925,780 and the number of departing travelers increased by 27.91% to 976,747 while the number of transit travelers fell by 56.78% to 3,693. Concurrently, the number of flights saw a sharp annual rebound of 20.66% over the concerned period to 16,736. It is worth highlighting in this context that the share of Middle East Airlines (MEA) rose from 36.38% of the total number of flights during the first four months of 2022 to 44.81% in the same period this year. This is further sketched in the table below:
