The International Air Transport Association (IATA) presented the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a study quantifying the economic benefits of aviation to the Saudi Arabian economy.
The study was commissioned by IATA and completed by Oxford Economics. It was presented to His Highness Prince Fahad Alabdullah, who is President of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) and Chairman of the Board of Saudi Arabian Airlines, by Mr. Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO who visited Saudi Arabia lately.
Highlights of the study include:
- Aviation supports 1.8% of Saudi Arabia’s GDP equal to SAR 30.2 billion annually.
- Aviation is a quality employer, providing work for some 152,000 people in Saudi Arabia. The productivity of these jobs is 1.8 times higher than the average for Saudi Arabia.
- Aviation-enabled tourism in Saudi Arabia employs a further 139,000 people and supports some SAR 23.6 billion of economic activity annually.
- In total, aviation and aviation-enabled tourism accounts for 3.2% of Saudi Arabia’s GDP and 3.0% of employment.
Source: IATA