Dubai airport passenger traffic hits record in July

Growing tourism and trade ties with the rest of the Middle East, Asia and other regions of the world are fuelling traffic growth at Dubai’s airport.

During the first seven months of this year, passenger traffic at Dubai International rose 7.0 per cent to 48.12 million. Karim Sahib / AFP
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Passenger traffic at Dubai International in July smashed all previous records as 7.6 million travellers passed through its concourses.

Dubai Airports said that passenger numbers reached 7,616,792 compared to the 6,682,676 handled in July 2015, a 14 per cent increase.

During the first seven months of the year, DXB welcomed 48,123,248 passengers, up 7 per cent compared to 44,981,967 passengers recorded during the same period last year.

India was the top destination country in July with 990,213 passengers, followed by the UK (573,025 passengers), and Saudi Arabia (475,841).

London, Doha, Mumbai, Kuwait and Bangkok headed the list of the most popular destinations served from DXB.

“This summer was the busiest in DXB’s history with daily traffic averaging a quarter of a million passengers across the three terminals,” said Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports. We are pleased as much with the growth as we are with the way we managed service levels by implementing detailed operational plans, boosting staff levels, intensifying communication efforts with our business partners and customers during the peak period.”

DXB is preparing for another increase in passenger numbers next week when millions will observe the Islamic festival of Eid Al Adha and perform the annual pilgrimage of Haj.

Freight volumes, however, contracted 1.2 per cent in July to total 203,153 tonnes compared to 205,526 tonnes in July 2015.

During the first seven months of 2016, DXB handled 1,485,177 tonnes of cargo, up 3.2 per cent compared to 1,438,904 tonnes recorded during the same period in 2015.

ascott@thenational.ae

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