Introduction

As part of the increasing, continuous, and growing attention the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) pays to all its statistical operations, it conducts the Air Traffic Statistics publication at the level of airports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to be a reference for all ministries and governmental departments and institutions. This Publication aims to provide basic data for planners, development policy makers and decision-makers, as it draws its data from the records of the partners

 GASTAT extends its thanks and appreciation to all its partners and clients from the concerned parties for their cooperation in the completion of this publication. In addition, GASTAT hopes that everyone will provide it with suggestions and feedback on this publication via e-mail (info@stats.gov.sa), as this will improve the content of the publication and add further developments to future publications.

Methodology:

GASTAT implements all its statistical works in accordance with a unified methodology that comply with the nature of each statistical product. It relies on the Manual of the Statistical Procedures which conforms with the procedures adopted by the international organizations. The statistical product goes through eight connected stages, in addition to a ninth stage (the comprehensive "management" stage), which are as follows:

The first three stages: (Scope, design, and organization) are collaborative stages between GASTAT and its clients from the different developmental entities. However, the fourth stage (Data collection) is a collaborative stage between GASTAT and the statistical community either households or establishments, in order to complete data and information. On the other hands, the rest of the stages are considered statistical stages carried out by GASTAT, including (tabulation, revision, and publication). After that, the eighth stage (Assessment) is done through collaboration with clients again, whereas the (Management) stage is an administrative and the organizational stage is connected with all stages. These stages applied in Air Traffic Statistics are as follows:

First Stage: Scope:

This is the first step of Air Traffic Statistics production and the first collaborative stages between GASTAT and General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). In this Stage, workshops and meetings were held between GASTAT and relevant entities in this regard to reach a mutual understanding of needs and identify requirements, taking into account all opinions and suggestions to ensure the achievement of all Air Traffic Statistics objectives, which is summed up in the following:

1. The main objective of Air Traffic Statistics conducted by GASTAT is to provide up-to-date statistics and indicators on air traffic, to help decision makers to know and understand the following:

• Air traffic of international airports in Saudi Arabia.
• Air traffic of internal airports in Saudi Arabia.
• Air cargo in Saudi Arabia.

2. Develop wide-scale statistics to be a solid foundation for conducting studies and researches in the Air Traffic field.

3. Use such statistics for local, regional and international benchmarking purposes.

Second Stage: Design:

The stage of designing statistical work as a whole product. Through this stage, the statistical community, the method and tools for collecting data are defined. In all these procedures, clients are involved and their consultations are used to meet all the requirements and ensure that they are met in the statistical product.

The key outputs of this stage are:

1. Statistical Community:

2.Statistics Sources:

Air Traffic Statistics data rely on administrative records of GACA as a main source of data, which are provided to GASTAT on an annual basis for the calculation and issuance of its indicators in Air Traffic Statistics Publication.    

Administrative records refer to data and information recorded and updated with GACA on Air Traffic Statistics and generated through the electronic official registration and documentation processes followed by GACA.

3. Identification of Data Required from Administrative Records:

GASTAT determined the nature of data required from the GACA, which is a major source of air Traffic data according to a number of variables, in terms of the number of flights, passengers, cargo together with other related variables.

 4. Survey Terminology and Concepts:

The terms, definitions and classifications are based on the international standards contained in the Reference Manual on the ICAO Statistics Programme, which is a manual made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This manual helps with a better understanding of main definitions and terms used in Air Traffic Statistics, such as statistical parameters of commercial air transport companies that ICAO requires the countries to collect and establish, subject to specific considerations. All data required must conform to those related to air carrier operation. This is to ensure that all data reported to the same entity are harmonized and can be used outside comprehensive analytical processes that compares, for instance, traffic and capacity data against revenues and cost. Also, it ensures homogeneity of data between the reports for different air carriers thus allowing benchmarking analysis to be carried out. Following are the most important terms and concepts:

5. Indicators:

Air Traffic Statistics were calculated based on data sources, as follows:

6. Adopted Statistical Classifications:

Classification is defined as an arranged set of related categories used for data collection based on similarity. It is the basis for collecting and publishing data in all statistical fields, such as (economic activity, products, expenditures, occupations or health, ... etc.) It allows for classifying data and information into meaningful categories to produce useful statistics. That being said, data collection requires precise and methodological arrangement based on their commonalities as to produce reliable and comparable statistics. Air Traffic Statistics are subject to international standards in terms of data collection and classification. Air Traffic Statistics depend on the following classification:

National Code of Countries and Nationalities (ISO 3166 - Country Codes)

A statistical classification that is set as per the international standard (ISO 3166_Country Codes), an ISO standard (UN affiliate). Such classification gives numeric and alphanumeric codes for the world’s 248 countries, based on classification of countries. The classification is used in Air Traffic Statistics. 

7. Coverage:

7-1 Special Coverage: Data provided in Air Traffic Statistics Publication covering all airports in KSA

7-2 Temporal Coverage: Air Traffic Statistics are based on the reference year 2021.

Third Stage: Organization:

It is the final preparation stage. In this stage, the required workflow procedures are established for preparing the Air Traffic Statistics, starting with the "collection stage" and ending with the assessment stage and the organization and grouping of such procedures. The optimal sequence of those procedures is chosen to reach a methodology that achieves the objectives of Air Traffic Statistics. In this stage, those procedures were described and documented to facilitate any updates to them in future rounds. The statistical workflow procedures were tested and examined to ensure their compliance with the requirements of preparing the Air Traffic Statistics Publication in its final form, approve the procedures of the statistical workflow, and develop a roadmap for implementation.

Fourth stage: Collection:

GASTAT coordinated with GACA, to obtain data of Air Traffic Statistics publication, which was maintained in GASTAT databases and audited and reviewed in accordance with the scientific statistical method and the recognized quality standards, in coordination with the data owner.

Fifth stage: Tabulation:

At this stage, air Traffic data were tabulated, processed and analyzed as follows:

• Sorting and arranging data into different groups or categories in sequential order.
• Summarizing detailed data into main points or data.
• Combining many pieces of data and make them interconnected.
• Processing incomplete or missing data.
• Processing illogical data .
• Converting data into statistically significant indicators.
• Organizing, displaying and interpreting data.

Further, data is presented in appropriate tables, to be summarized, understood and comprehended easily. This also facilitates drawing results from such data and comparing it with other data, to reach statistical implications. This is to make it easier refer to such tabulated data, and in case of any observations, they are sent to the data owners to address them.

Sixth stage: Revision

First: Data Output Validation:

After processing and tabulating data collected in the fifth stage and verifying its integrity, GASTAT calculates and draws the results, after which it uploads and stores them on the database, and then the final review and approval processes are conducted.

Second: Dealing with confidential data:

Pursuant to Royal Decree No. 23 dated 07/12/1397 AH, GASTAT is committed to the full confidentiality of all collected data and to not using it except for statistical purposes. Therefore, data has been protected in GASTAT data servers.

Seventh Stage: Publication

First: Preparing Results for Publishing:

In this Stage, GASTAT downloaded the data results from the database of Air Traffic Statistics, coordinated, organized, and reviewed data of administrative records contained in Air Traffic Statistics Publication, tables and graphs of data and indicators were prepared, and descriptive and methodological data were added to them, and then they were prepared in Arabic and English.

Second: Preparing Media Material and Announcing the Publication’s Publishing Date:

After announcing the publication's publishing date on its official website at the beginning of the calendar year, GASTAT prepares the required media materials to announce the publication's publishing on all media outlets, as well as its social media platforms. The publication is published on the official website in various open data formats, i.e. Excel. This guarantees circulation and provision of access to all clients and parties interested in traffic and transport statistics and is included in the Statistic Library on the website.

Third: Communicating with clients and providing them with the publication:  

GASTAT gives great importance to communicating with clients who are users of its data. Therefore, GASTAT contacts clients upon publishing the Air Traffic Statistics Publication and provide them with it. GASTAT also receives questions and enquiries from clients regarding the publication and its results through various communication channels. Clients can contact GASTAT to request data. Questions and inquiries are received via: ​

• The Authority's official website:   www.stats.gov.sa 
• The Authority's official e-mail address:  info@stats.gov.sa
• Client Support e-mail address:  cs@stats.gov.sa
• Official visit to the GASTAT headquarters in Riyadh or one of its branches in the Kingdom.
• Formal letters.
• Statistical Telephone by dialing (920020081)

Eighth Stage: Assessment

After the publication is published and received by all GASTAT’s clients, the clients are contacted again in this stage which allows for assessing the whole statistical process with the aim of constant improvement to obtain high-quality data. The proposed future improvements may include methodologies, processes, systems, statistical researchers’ skills and statistical frameworks. This stage is carried out in collaboration with data users and GASTAT’s clients through a number of steps:

First: Collecting Measurable Assessment Inputs:

The most important comments and feedback are collected and documented from their sources in all stages, including the feedback collected and documented during collection process, such as: Comments and remarks provided by data collectors and their supervisors. Some data are collected and documented in the Revision Stage, such as the comments of specialists concerned with revising, auditing and analyzing data collected from administrative records. Finally, comments and feedback provided by data users are collected and documented after publication, in addition to the feedback collected from media platforms or clients’ feedback received by GASTAT through its main channels.

Second: Conducting the assessment:

Collected assessment inputs are analyzed, and the results of this analysis are compared with pre-anticipated results. Accordingly, potential improvements and solutions are identified and discussed with experts and stakeholders, engaging the parties concerned with Air Traffic Statistics. In this stage, the clients’ use of the results of the Air Traffic Statistics and their satisfaction with it are measured. Based on that, recommendations are developed to enhance the quality of the results of the next Air Traffic Statistics publications.

Ninth Stage: Management:

A comprehensive stage spanning over all the stages of producing the Air Traffic Statistics publication. This stage determines the general production plan, including the feasibility study, risk management, means of funding, disbursement mechanisms, as well as the development performance indicators, quality parameters, human resources map necessary for production, following up on the execution of tasks assigned to all departments in every stage, and preparing reports to ensure that GASTAT fulfills its commitments towards its clients.