Dubai October Passenger Traffic Jumps 14.3%

Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport climbed 14.3 per cent from a year earlier in October, its second busiest month on record, the airport’s operator said on Wednesday.

The airport, one of the world’s busiest, handled 4.92 million passengers in October, Dubai Airports said.

“At this rate we expect to exceed our initial forecast of 56.5 million passengers and should end the year at or around 57 million passengers,” Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said in a statement.

Year-to-date traffic grew 13.5 per cent from a year earlier to 47.49 million passengers.

Big increases in travellers from the Gulf, Western Europe and the Indian subcontinent have more than offset a fall in traffic on some Middle Eastern routes due to turmoil in countries such as Syria.

Cargo volume totalled 202,619 tonnes in October, an increase of 2.4 per cent. Year-to-date volume rose 3.6 per cent to 1.88 million tonnes.