BIA records almost three million passengers during H1 2022

Credit: Bahrain International Airport (BIA)

Almost three million passengers passed through Bahrain International Airport (BIA) during the first half of 2022, a meeting by Bahrain Airport Company’s (BAC) Airport Facilitation Committee heard. The committee, which convened for its first face to face gathering since the start of the pandemic, is tasked with reviewing the operational facilitation of passengers, crew, and baggage at BIA as per what was laid down by the Airport Facilitation Programme and in line with the directions received from the BCAA.

The committee reviewed a range of topics, including BIA’s performance figures for the first half of the year and the recent milestone of achieving Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Customer Experience Accreditation Level 2, which underscores the efforts of BAC and its partners to deliver an exceptional customer experience.

During his speech, BAC Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah commented: “We can all be proud of how well our airport has performed this year. After losing more than 75 per cent of our usual traffic in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed a recovery in 2021, and now have recorded almost three million passengers during the first six months of the current year. We expect to serve approximately 6.5 million passengers by the end of 2022 and hope to be back to serving more than nine million by the end of 2023.”

He added: “The passenger experience is central to our vision and strategies. Our partners play a vital role in building on BIA’s reputation as a friendly and efficient airport, offering the world a gateway to the Kingdom that makes our country proud. However, we must work harder to further exceed expectations. This requires a concerted effort from all of us now that we are seeing a return to normalcy and physical meetings, and I am confident we can achieve these goals with teamwork and continued determination.”

The committee also discussed updates to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council’s international Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), which address national civil aviation responses to public health emergencies and the security and inspection of travel and related health documents.  Amendment 29 to Annex 9 – Facilitation to the Chicago Convention addresses a wider range of facilitation provisions relating to the conduct of relief and repatriation flights, air travellers with disabilities, assistance to aircraft accident victims and their families, and the use of civil aviation for the trafficking in persons.

The meeting also included presentations on aviation security and the home check-in process.