Dubai International Airport July passenger traffic up 1.8%

Dubai International Airport handled 1.8 per cent more passengers in July after a surge in traffic the previous month.

The aviation hub, the world busiest for international flights, has seen a relatively slow start to the year so far, having carried 1.6 per cent more passengers in the first half to 43.7 million compared to the same period in 2017.

Read: Dubai airport sees double digit traffic growth in June

Passenger numbers in July totalled 8.207 million compared to 8.065 million in the same month last year, while year-to-date passenger growth remained stable at 1.6 per cent to 51.94 million.

Eastern Europe saw the largest increase in passengers last month, with traffic surging 24.4 per cent after new Flydubai route openings in the CIS countries.

India accounted for the most passengers at 1.032 million followed by Saudi Arabia with 583,975 and the UK with 581,557, while London was the most popular destination with 358,201 passengers, followed by Kuwait (221,696), Mumbai (209,205) and Riyadh (200,411).

Flight movements in July were up 3.5 per cent compared to the same month last year to 35,393 but year-to-date movements were down 1.2 per cent to 237,177 and passengers per movement declined year-on-year from 243 to 238.

Cargo volumes increased 4.8 per cent from July last year to 223,488 tonnes and were down 1.6 per cent year-to-date at 1.49 million tonnes.