DOHA: An estimated 250,000 people are expected to travel overseas during the Eid holidays, making it a record exodus so far this year, a senior airport official has said.
“This would be the largest number of people travelling abroad so far in 2013, during this festive season,” Abdulaziz Al Maas, a spokesman for Doha International Airport, said.
The number doesn’t include passengers transiting the airport. “We expect no less than a quarter million people leaving the country for overseas this Eid Al Fitr,” Al Maas told Al Sharq.
He said the airport handled 21 million passengers in 2012, a 15.16 percent rise over the previous year. “This year, we expect the number to grow 16.8 percent.”
The airport has, thus, increased its staff in the departure and arrivals terminals and set up additional immigration counters to handle the rush, the official added.
