Dubai International airport handles 7.6 million passengers in April

Dubai International airport – the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic – handled more than 7.6 million travellers in April, according to data issued by operator Dubai Airports.

Passenger numbers reached 7,622,946 in April, up 9.2 per cent compared to 6,979,063 recorded during the same month in 2016. The operator confirmed that last year’s traffic figure has been revised from 6,978,268 due to data validation exercise and/or an update in methodology.

Regionally, the Indian subcontinent saw the biggest volume with over 1.69 million passengers, followed by Western Europe (1.67 million), and the GCC (1.3 million).

London was the top city destination for the airport with 350,015 passengers in April, followed by Doha (290,524), Jeddah (196,673), Bangkok (192,981) and Mumbai (191,183).

In terms of growth, South America topped the list during April with traffic increasing by 38.9 per cent, followed by Eastern Europe (33.9 per cent) and Asia (18.9 per cent).

Also read: Dubai Airports CEO says US electronics ban to have little impact on passenger numbers

During April, the average number of passengers per movement was 225, an increase of 7.1 per cent year-on-year.

Total flight movements also grew by around 1 per cent to reach 35,285 in April.

In terms of cargo, Dubai International handled 217,881 tonnes of freight in April, up 1.9 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Dubai Airports also revealed growth in passenger traffic and cargo volumes during the first four months of the year.

Year-to-date passenger traffic reached 30,119,542 compared to 27,926,958 passengers during the same period last year, an increase of 7.8 per cent.

Flight movements totalled 140,611, up marginally (0.3 per cent) compared to the first four months of 2016.

The airport handled 854,359 tonnes of cargo between January to April, up 3.1 per cent year-on-year.

“The growth at DXB has been very satisfying in the first four months of the year, and with the Islamic festival of Eid Al Fitr coinciding with start of the summer holidays next month, we are confident the numbers will boost our performance in the first half,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

Dubai International Airport, which welcomed 83.6 million passengers in 2016, is forecasting 89 million passengers this year.

Earlier this month, Griffiths stressed that the projection for passenger growth remains very strong despite issues like the US electronic ban and other economic issues affecting travel.

“By the end of 2017, across the two Dubai airports, we are likely to hit the 100 million mark and as we edge up to 2025, we believe the demand for air travel through Dubai will be 142.8 million,” he said.

Read more: Dubai’s two airports likely to welcome 100 million passengers in 2017