Passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport in April rose 15.5 per cent from the same period last year as Etihad and its partner airlines launched new routes from the capital.
About 1.87 million passengers used the airport in April, up from 1.62 million for the same month last year, said Abu Dhabi Airports.
The number of aircraft movements increased by 14.4 per cent to 14,211, up from 12,420 last year. Cargo handling climbed 19.3 per cent to 71,650 tonnes, up from 60,059 tonnes a year ago.
“Abu Dhabi International Airport continues to maintain double-digit growth in passenger traffic, aircraft movement and cargo activity every month, making the airport one of the fastest-growing aviation hubs in the world,” said Ahmad Al Haddabi, the chief operations officer of the airports operator.
The main growth drivers include increased activity by Air Berlin, Jet Airways and Air Seychelles, and the addition of four new routes by Etihad Airways and Alitalia to Madrid, Venice, Pune in India and Entebbe in Uganda. The number of Umrah flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia also rose.
Three further routes added at the end of March – South African Airways launched an inaugural route to Johannesburg, while Alitalia added Milan and Venice as new destinations – were also said to have contributed to passenger growth.
In April, the top five routes from Abu Dhabi International Airport were London Heathrow, Bangkok, Manila, Doha and Mumbai, accounting for 16 per cent of all traffic.
Last month, Abu Dhabi Airports said it expected to handle 22 per cent more flights this summer, with more than 1,500 flights a week planned between this month and September.
The airport operator is in the middle of building the US$3 billion Midfield Terminal building. Upon its completion in July 2017, it will boost capacity at the airport to 30 million passengers a year.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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