Dubai airport receives record 105, 326 passengers in one day

The Dubai International Airport received 105,326 passengers in one day – on New Year’s eve – reaching a new record, according to Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs (GDRFA).

A total of 669,093 passengers passed through the airport between December 28-31, with arrivals at 389,290 and departures standing at 288,803 people.

Major general Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, GDRFA director-general, said that Dubai is currently deploying easy entry and departure procedures for passengers.

All UAE residents can now use their Emirates ID cards to access e-gates at Dubai International, speeding up the arrival process.

Al Marri also noted that a special team has been assigned to facilitate all the procedures during holiday periods, a report by Dubai Media Office said.

Early preparation and coordination between the various airports departments also aided in easing the flow of passengers.

Last week, Dubai airline Emirates announced that it expected close to 250,000 passengers to pass through its Concourses and Terminal 3 in the first three days of 2017.

It anticipated a record 87,000 passengers to pass though Terminal 3 on January 2 alone.

The world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic, Dubai International is expected to have welcomed around 83 million passengers in 2016.

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths has said he expects 90 million passengers to pass through Dubai International Airport by the end of 2017.

Read: Dubai airport aims for 90 million passengers in 2017

The airport is now on course to handle 118 million passengers by 2023 while Dubai World Central’s existing passenger terminal building is being expanded to handle 26 million by the end of next year.

Both are precursors to the over $30bn DWC phase 2 project that will accommodate 120 million passengers by 2025 at which time the plan is for it to become Emirates’ new hub.