Growing cargo, tourism and transit passengers at Bahrain International Airport – host of Routes World 2024

For this exclusive interview, International Airport Review‘s Holly Miles caught up with Mohamed Albinfalah, CEO of Bahrain International Airport and the country host of Routes World 2024.

In the interview, Mohamed discussed the free city tour launched by Gulf Air for its transiting passengers coming through Bahrain Airport saying it had been very popular. Historically, Bahrain International Airport is a transit hub said the CEO, therefore they miss the opportunity to see what the country has to offer, it is hoped that by giving passengers a quick whistlestop tour will entice them to come back to Bahrain as their destination. 

Bahrain’s aviation sector saw significant growth during the first half of 2023, The airport and national carrier Gulf Air both recorded an increase in passengers and air traffic compared to the same period last year. Mohamed credits the success of this to the seamless experience they offer within Bahrain’s terminal and their dedication to passenger experience, for which they have received accolades. Gulf Air has also offered new destinations to Bahrain passengers.

The CEO’s goal for the airport is to be the leading air cargo hub in the region, with this in mind, they are building a Cargo Express Village. FedEx is one of the anchor tenants that will be operating there and DHL is said to be taking more of an interest to expand in Bahrain. 

Speaking further, Mohamed highlighted his goal to put Bahrain on the tourism map and connect passengers to more destinations such as U.S., China and India, Europe and far east. Bahrain is said to have $10bn of tourism infrastructure projects in the pipeline and the national tourism strategy aims to increase visitors to Bahrain from 9.9 million to 14 million passengers per year. “To enable that we need to be a platform to attract new airlines to the Kingdom,” he said.

Bahrain will be hosting Routes World 2024.

*This interview took place in October 2023