Spearheaded by a sharp 36.6 percent surge in May, Sharjah International Airport witnessed a healthy 26.08 per cent rise in overall freight throughput in the first half this year, to 235,509 tonnes. Sea-air cargo handling also grew 15.92 per cent to 19,475 tonnes during the period under review. January experienced the highest jump of 41.47 per cent.

The data, released yesterday by the research department, showed Sharjah was on course for another record this year. The airport had last year, been ranked the leading cargo handler in the Middle East with a total throughput of 431,323 tonnes in 1997, up 34.6 per cent over the previous year.

The listings, issued by Geneva based Airports Council International (ACI), had ranked Dubai International Airport second with 425,157 tonnes, up 15.1 per cent.

The airport was, however, the busiest in the region. The first-half

1998 statistics also showed a slow but steady rise in aircraft movements through Sharjah, up 3.81 per cent to
14,724. Of these, scheduled flights totaled 9,157, and non-scheduled flights 5,567.

Meanwhile the total number of travelers using the passenger terminal rose 3.47 per cent to 518,722.

Other Middle East airports to notch up six-figure cargo throughputs last year were Jeddah (199,585 tonnes), Kuwait, (145,028 tonnes), Riyadh (152,394 tonnes) and Bahrain (117,186 tonnes).

Other UAE airports on the ACI cargo list included Abu Dhabi 71,959 tonnes), Fujairah (48,904 tonnes) and Ras Al Khaimah (4,251 tonnes) in December, comparative annual figures unavailable).

In terms of aircraft movements, Dubai was followed by Jeddah, Riyadh and Bahrain. Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Muscat and Sharjah also figured prominently.