Abu Dhabi Airport welcomes 4.5 million summer passengers

More than 4.5 million passengers passed through Abu Dhabi International Airport during the summer months, according to new statistics.

Data shows the most popular destination for travellers departing from Abu Dhabi during the summer was London. New Delhi, Mumbai, Cairo and Cochin followed behind. Combined, the five cities accounted for about 900,104 passengers.

During the Eid Al Adha period, a total of 713,297 passengers passed through the airport.

In a report carried by Emirates News Agency (WAM), Bryan Thompson, CEO of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: “We are delighted to see the growth in the number of passengers travelling through Abu Dhabi International Airport.”

He added: “We were pleased to be able to welcome passengers travelling during Eid Al Adha at our airport this year, in this important religious holiday. It was our pleasure to welcome a number of pilgrims travelling to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for the celebration of Hajj this year.”

The Abu Dhabi airport figures come as neighbouring Dubai continues to see an increase in the number of visitors. The latest data released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) shows a 3 per cent increase in visitors coming to the emirate in the first six months of 2019 compared to the same period last year.

Read: Dubai welcomes over 8.3 million tourists in the first half of the year

Dubai welcomed 8.36 million international overnight visitors in the first six months (January-June) of 2019, the report found. The top source market was India, with about 997,000 visitors. In second was Saudi Arabia, with 755,000 visitors.