Doha, Qatar: The Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (CAAQ) has released preliminary air transport statistics for January 2026, revealing a strong start to the year.
The data shows significant year-on-year increases in aircraft movements, passenger traffic and cargo handling, indicating that the country’s aviation hub continues on an upward trajectory.
According to the CAAQ report, the number of aircraft movements increased by 6% in January 2026, from 23,936 flights in January 2025 to 25,379 flights this year.
The number of passengers also increased steadily, with 5,065,000 travelers passing through the country, an increase of 6.8% compared to 4,743,000 in the same month last year.
The most notable growth was in the logistics sector, where air cargo and mail transport recorded a double-digit increase of 11.2%, rising from 190,018 tonnes in 2025 to 211,281 tonnes in January 2026.
ICAO Ground Instructor Khamis Abdullah Al-Khelaifi said the foundation for this growth was built on the strong performance in 2025.
“The strong full-year performance in 2025 suggests that traffic levels in early 2026 (including January) are likely to maintain solid momentum, supported by increased global connections and continued demand for both leisure and business travel,” aviation analysts said.
He further emphasized that the business scale has remained at a consistently high level. “In 2025, airports and airlines handled significant aircraft movements and network breadth, demonstrating continued operational scale through January 2026.”
Mr. Al-Khelaifi emphasized that the main driver of these numbers was the national carrier’s strategic expansion, noting that the airline is actively expanding its operational capacity to meet this growing demand.
“Qatar Airways continues to expand its network into early 2026, including deploying Airbus A380 aircraft on some routes since mid-January, demonstrating capacity expansion and demand growth,” he said.
Moreover, its growth is backed by a reputation for reliability.
“Qatar Airways has continued its strong performance, achieving an on-time performance of around 84 per cent in 2025 and winning the Platinum Award for on-time performance across a complex global network, a solid indicator of industry reliability as we head into 2026,” Al-Khelaifi said.
The surge in cargo volumes is particularly notable and is consistent with broader regional trends.
The aviation expert said the region would see “global cargo growth in the second half of 2025”, which proved to support continued cargo demand into the new year.
As Qatar continues to expand its global footprint, these early 2026 numbers suggest that the aerospace sector remains a key driver of the country’s economic growth and connectivity.
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