Dubai airport receives record 7.7m passengers in August

Dubai International Airport welcomed over 7.7 million passengers in August, up 6.1 per cent year-on-year, according to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports.

The seasonal rush of travellers – particularly UAE residents returning for the start of the academic year – boosted traffic during the month, a statement said.

Additional capacity and new services launched by Emirates and flydubai led Eastern Europe to rank as the fastest-expanding market in terms of percentage growth (67.9 per cent), followed by Asia (13 per cent), South America (11.7 per cent), and the Indian Subcontinent (11.7 per cent).

India remained the top destination country (924,256 passengers), followed by the UK (584,508 passengers) and Saudi Arabia (535,280 passengers).

Meanwhile London was the top destination city, followed by Doha and Kuwait. Baku (284.5 per cent) topped the list of cities in terms of percentage growth, followed by Mashhad (118.6 per cent) and Boston (88.2 per cent).

The average number of passengers per flight during the month was 237 – one of the highest the airport has ever seen, Dubai Airports said.

However, aircraft movements totalled 33,827 during August, down 2.7 per cent when compared to 34,773 movements recorded in August 2015.

Year to date passenger traffic totalled 55,850,353 passengers – up 6.9 per cent compared to 52,264,223 recorded during the first eight months of 2015.

Year to date aircraft movement also rose 2.9 per cent to 276,233, compared to 268,360 recorded during the same period in 2015.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said, “Consecutive months with record breaking traffic is a great way to mark the 56th anniversary of DXB which occurred last week.

“As we continue to grow, our focus will continue to operate not only the world’s busiest airports but also the world’s best in terms of customer service,” he added.

Dubai International has grown into a major hub not just for traffic that flies to the city but also for transit, said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research.

“With almost 56m passengers handled year to date, it’s evident that Dubai International is well on the way to another record breaking year,” he said.

“But at the same time, the Dubai government will be acutely aware that this rapid growth will necessitate the expediting of development at Dubai World Central too,” he added.

Dubai remained the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic in 2015 beating London Heathrow and Hong Kong, according to the latest report issued recently by the Airports Council International.

The emirate also increased its ranking among the world’s busiest airports in terms of total passenger numbers, rising from sixth in 2014 to third in 2015.

Read more: Dubai ranks high among world’s top 10 busiest airports in 2015