Dubai International Airport passenger traffic up 7.5% in March

Passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest, rose 7.5 per cent from a year earlier to 6.29 million people in March, the airport operator said on Monday.

In the first three months of this year, passenger traffic at Dubai International increased 11.4 per cent to 18.36 million people, driven by expansion in the networks of the Emirates and flydubai airlines, Dubai Airports said.

Freight volume handled by the airport rose 6.7 per cent in March to 228,154 tonnes, partly because of increasing strength in the world’s developed economies, Dubai Airports added. Three-month freight volume rose 5 per cent to 613,876 tonnes.

Growth in the airport’s operations is set to slow in the next two months as it plans to reduce the number of flights it handles by 26 per cent during an 80-day period of construction work on its runways, starting from the beginning of May. Some of the traffic will be diverted to Dubai’s new Al Maktoum International Airport.

Etihad adding regional flights

Etihad Airways yesterday said it would operate three flights a day to Beirut and Amman from July 2. The additional flights will add more than 800 seats per week between Abu Dhabi and the two Arab capitals. The services to Beirut will improve connections via Abu Dhabi to destinations in Asia and Australia, including Manila, Sydney and Melbourne, the airline said. New flights to Amman will improve links to destinations that include Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta and Sydney.

* The National staff

Dubai International Airport passenger traffic up 7.5% in March

Passenger traffic has increased 11.4 per cent to 18.36 million people in the first three months of the year, driven by expansion in the networks of the Emirates and flydubai airlines.