Sharjah Airport records a new number of passengers handled in 2018, with over 12.04 million passengers in 2018 and 11.36 million in 2017, the year-on-year growth was 6 per cent, a media report said.

The number of scheduled and unscheduled flights also increased by 4.68 per cent in 2018, with 77.62 thousand flights in 2017 and more than 81.26 thousand flights last year, reported Emirates news agency Wam.

Air freight traffic through the Airport reached 132.66 thousand tons in 2018, the sea-air freight increased by 27.27 per cent to 13.64 thousand tons. The highest number of passengers handled 1.211 million was recorded in August, and the airport recorded the highest growth rate decreased by 13.33 per cent, in June.

In terms of aircraft movements, the number of flights peaked in August with 7,708 trips, while the highest growth rate decreased by 10.39 per cent - in July.

Ali Salim Al Midfa, chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority, said, "Sharjah Airport’s excellent results in 2018 in terms of the growth in the number of passengers, flights and freight reflects the airport’s outstanding status, which is rising steadily based on programmes and plans designed to ensure that the airport keeps up with the Emirate of Sharjah’s developments in different areas in line with the aspirations of our wise leadership and the expectations of passengers and customers."

He explained that all levels of the airport’s management are keen to continue working with all partners and are always exploring opportunities to enhance the airport’s capacity, to keep pace with the development and expansion and to fulfil the needs of different market sectors.

Sheikh Faisal bin Saud Al Qassimi, director of Sharjah Airport Authority, noted that the airport would continue to develop and grow, upgrading its services and implementing ongoing plans for development.