Dubai’s DXB handled 20.7 million passengers in the first 10 months of 2021

Dubai International (DXB) has handled 20.7 million passengers in the first 10 months of 2021, with traffic growing almost 20 per cent in the last four weeks.

DXB’s passenger volumes in the third quarter totalled 6.7 million.

The world’s busiest international airport is expecting the surge to continue during Q4 2021 on the back of ease in global travel restrictions, Expo 2020 Dubai, Dubai Airshow 2021 and the annual arrival of inbound travellers during the winter months, a statement said.

South Asia retained its rank as DXB’s largest contributor of traffic led by India (2.8 million) and Pakistan (1 million). Egypt was ranked third with 753,000 passengers, followed by the US (710,000) and Turkey (598,000). However, the top three cities by traffic were Cairo (634,000), Istanbul (576,000) and Addis Ababa (573,000).

DXB is currently serving 83 per cent of the destinations in 99 per cent of the countries on 108 per cent of the airlines compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic, the statement added.

From January to October, @dxb handled 20.7 million passengers. pic.twitter.com/nRsh430o3J

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) November 15, 2021

“It’s been a steady journey of recovery for DXB, and while we are still a long way from pre-pandemic levels of traffic, we are encouraged to see this significant increase in the rate of passenger growth,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

“Our performance to date has led the global recovery in all aspects of aviation activity and the growing ability of countries around world to manage the global pandemic is allowing travel restrictions to be lifted. Significant market developments such as the UK’s vaccination-based travel programme, the resumption of flights to several important destinations in Australasia and the relaxation of restrictions for travel between India and the US have all contributed to an upward revision in our forecast for the year by an additional 2 million passengers to 28.7 million.”

Concourse A, is also being prepared for reopening before the end of November, putting DXB back to 100 per cent capacity after 20 months of reduced operations, he added.

DXB recorded 581,972 tonnes of freight in Q3 2021, bringing the total volume for the first nine months of 2021 to 1.7 million tonnes, a year on year increase of 25.3 per cent. Meanwhile, flight movements in Q3 surged to 56,266 at DXB, propelling the number of flight movements recorded between January and September to 155,706, up 17.1 per cent.