Dubai airport passenger traffic falls 1% in January

Dubai International Airport recorded a 1 per cent decline in passenger traffic in January as the world’s busiest airport for international travellers handled fewer flights.

There were 7.96 million passengers travelling on 35,306 flights last month, down from 8.04 million people and 36,592 flights a year earlier, operator Dubai Airports said on Tuesday.

Dubai Airports said passenger numbers were stronger in the year-earlier period because Chinese New Year, a major holiday period, started in January 2017 but began in mid-February this year.

The airport is expecting modest growth this year, forecasting that annual passenger traffic will increase just 2.4 per cent to 90.3 million. That would be its slowest pace of growth so far this decade.

Read: Dubai airport predicts rise in traffic after 2017 growth dips

Cargo volumes at Dubai International declined 2.9 percent to 202,233 tonnes in January.