Passenger demand in Middle East picks up in October: IATA report

DUBAI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Middle East carriers recorded a 6.9 percent rise in demand in October year on year, up from 3.9 percent in September, said the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) in its monthly report released Monday.

Compared to global international passenger growth of 7.3 percent in October, the Middle East region was underperforming.

IATA said demand to and from North America in particular fell in year-on-year terms for the seventh consecutive month. That part of the world also "remains the only international market not to have grown in annual terms this year."

The global civil aviation body added that traffic had been heavily affected by the now-lifted ban on portable electronic devices, as well as from the proposed travel bans to the U.S.

In July, the U.S. government lifted a portable electronic device ban which it announced on March 21. The ban included large-size electronic devices such as laptops and tablet computers on direct flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in eight countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and Morocco, triggering confusion among Middle Eastern passengers who regularly travel or planned to travel to the world's biggest economy. Enditem