Dubai airport passenger traffic rises 7.2% in May

Passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, rose 7.2 per cent from a year earlier to 6.72 million people in May, the airport’s operator said on Thursday.

Traffic from eastern Europe and Gulf Arab countries grew particularly fast, the operator said. In the first five months of this year, traffic expanded 7 per cent to 34.65 million passengers.

Freight volumes grew 4.7 per cent to 226,916 tonnes in May and nearly 4 per cent to 1.06 million tonnes in the first five months.

Only part of Dubai’s air cargo goes through Dubai International; another facility, Dubai World Central, handles pure cargo operations.