Arab Air Carriers Organisations expects strong recovery for region's airlines

Arab Air Carriers Organisations (AACO) Secretary-General Abdul Wahab Teffaha, on the sidelines of the IATA AGM, stated a strong recovery is expected for the region's carriers despite the geo-political unrest in the region which has affected traffic growth in the past few months (Gulf News, 08-Jun-2011). "The unrest affected primarily the traffic to and from the countries where the unrest is. However, the medium and long-term outlook for the Middle East's air transport market remains quite healthy," he said. He added that most Arab airlines have a "very strong cushion" of having a global reach, "which has been a lot more stable". IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani similarly stated that "the speed of the recovery in the Middle East is much faster. Once the political situation improves, the region's carriers will see passengers returning quite quickly".