Dubai International Airport passenger traffic climbs higher

Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 as seen from the Emirates headquarters. Pawan Singh / The National

Passenger traffic at Dubai International rose 4.4 per cent in October, helped by a boost in east European and North American travellers, the airport said.

The Dubai airport, which toppled London’s Heathrow last year as the world’s busiest for international passengers, said that passengers reached 6,250,810 in October compared to 5,989,007 in the same period last year.

Dubai International has grown to become a global aviation hub helped by the rapid growth of Emirates airline and its strategic location within an eight-hour radius from two-thirds of the world’s ­population.

The airport said that the eastern Europe market surpassed all others in terms of percentage growth during October, marking a 55.4 per cent rise.

It was followed by North America, which grew by 19.4 per cent, as Emirates, the city’s flagship carrier, increased capacity on several routes and launched extra daily flights to New York and Seattle.

For overall passenger traffic, the Indian sub-continent claimed top position, followed by western Europe.

India continued to lead in terms of passenger numbers, while the UK, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the US remained in the top five.

Separately, Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, said yesterday that it shipped its 35,000th tonne of products through its “Cool Chain” refrigerated facility at Al Maktoum International ­Airport.

Products shipped through the facility included pharmaceuticals, fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood that range from Skipjack tuna from the Maldives to American lobster from Boston.

Emirates last month said that its freighter facility would handle 1 million tonnes of cargo annually by 2018, up from the current capacity of 810,000 tonnes.

Global air cargo volumes rose by just 0.5 per cent in October, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (Iata). The Middle East remains the bright spot in global air freight with demand increasing by 8.3 per cent year-on-year.

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