Dubai airport receives 10.6 million passengers in H1, anticipates ‘robust growth’ ahead

Dubai Airports has said it is projecting robust growth for Dubai International (DXB) in the second half of the year after the airport received 10.6 million passengers in the first six months of 2021 – down 40.9 per cent year-on-year.

DXB’s passenger volumes in the second quarter totalled 4.9 million, and the airport is currently serving 68 per cent of the destinations on 70 per cent of the airlines compared to the pre-pandemic period.

“In anticipation of the robust recovery of global air travel, we started the second half on a high note by re-opening Terminal 1 and Concourse D – the home terminal for our 60 international carriers, after 15 months of hibernation to accommodate the seasonal rush of travellers over the summer holidays,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

“This was essential to facilitate the continued expansion of the route networks of our home base carriers Emirates and flydubai, whose joint network spans 168 destinations and growing. We have already witnessed some of our busiest weekends of the year in July, and with major international events such as the Dubai Expo 2020 and Dubai Airshow 2021 lined up for the months ahead, the outlook for 2021 in terms of passenger numbers looks very promising,” he added.

The UK’s recent decision to move the UAE to the ‘amber list’ and the UAE’s conditional lifting of travel restrictions for passengers arriving from four countries in the Indian subcontinent as well as Nigeria and Uganda will also ‘significantly’ boost DXB’s international traffic, he said.

Dubai International (DXB) welcomed 10.6m guests in the first half of 2021. Maintaining its spot as world’s busiest international airport, DXB is currently serving 68% of the destinations in 94% of the countries on 70% of the airlines compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/tE99PlvTBY

— Dubai Airports (@DubaiAirports) August 11, 2021

India continued to be DXB’s top destination country by traffic volume in the first half with passenger numbers exceeding 1.9 million. Pakistan was second with 700,074 customers, followed by Russia (406,209) and Egypt (401,361).

Other major destination countries included Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the US.

The top three cities by traffic were Addis Ababa (354,804), followed by Cairo (345,886) and Moscow (344,175).

According to the latest figures issued by Airports Council International (ACI), DXB remains the world’s busiest airport for international passengers.

Earlier this week, Dubai Airports also cautioned of heavy traffic over the next 11 days as summer holidays end and travel restrictions ease.

DXB is expecting to handle more than a million passengers between August 12-22, with daily peaks averaging 100,000 people during the weekends.

The surge in numbers is due to the seasonal peak at the end of the summer holidays – when families travel back to the UAE – in addition to recent changes in travel regulations for the UAE affecting several countries.

Dubai Airports stressed that it is taking several measures to maintain the health and safety of passengers and staff including periodic cleaning, facilitating the testing of inbound passengers and vaccination of airport staff, social distancing markers, providing hand sanitiser stations around the airport, use of protective plexiglass at check-in and immigration counters, availability of PPE and facilities for the safe disposal and handling of biohazard material (PPEs), and increased levels of sanitisation.

Read: Dubai’s DXB to handle more than one million passengers between August 12-22