Abu Dhabi airport sees 4.8% rise in April passenger numbers

Abu Dhabi International Airport registered a 4.8 per cent increase in passenger traffic during April 2016, compared to the same month last year, Abu Dhabi Airports announced on Wednesday.

Over 1.9 million people traveled through the airport last month, up from 1.87 million in April 2015.

The top-five routes were London Heathrow, Doha, Bangkok, Bombay and Jeddah.

Visitors from the United Kingdom were up 25.6 per cent year-on-year while passengers from Australia also rose 20.6 per cent during the same period.

“Abu Dhabi is growing, both as a global tourism destination and strategic transit hub and this is clear from the fact that we are still seeing a year on year increase in traveler numbers at the Abu Dhabi International airport,” said acting chief operations officer at Abu Dhabi Airports Mohammed Al Katheeri.

“Several destinations in particular have seen a rise in passenger traffic including India, Germany, Thailand, the UK and Italy.

“We are continuing to invest in the infrastructure and technology necessary to keep pace with this growth,” he added.

The Abu Dhabi airport is currently undergoing a multi-billion dollar re-development and expansion project designed to increase its overall capacity to more than 45 million passengers per year.

As part of this redevelopment, a second runway and a third terminal have been completed. Work on the massive Midfield Terminal project is ongoing.

Abu Dhabi International Airport welcomed more than 23 million passengers last year, up 17.2 per cent compared to 2014.

Also read: Abu Dhabi’s Midway Terminal to set ‘benchmark’ for airport dining