Dubai International Airport Grows 18.7% In April

Dubai International handled 5,418,946 passengers in April, an 18.7 per cent increase year-on-year.

It marked the ninth straight month of double-digit growth for the world’s second busiest airport for international passenger traffic – and the first full month of Emirates’ partnership with Qantas.

Year-to-date traffic increased by 16.3 per cent to 21,905,363.

The top country destinations for passenger traffic were India (672,557), UK (419,053) and Saudi Arabia (405,695) while Doha (207,146), London (201,587) and Jeddah (151,517) were the top cities.

The largest increase in total passenger numbers was recorded on the Western European routes (+207,120 passengers), followed by the GCC (180,600), and Indian subcontinent (+160,372).

But in terms of percentage growth, Eastern Europe topped the list (+56.5 per cent) followed by Asia Pacific (30.7 per cent) and Asia (24.5 per cent).

Aircraft movements at Dubai International increased by 6.9 per cent to 30,469 while freight volumes increased by 7.3 per cent to 199,985 tonnes.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, predicted its quickening growth rate will continue “at a similar pace into the next quarter and beyond”.

“Given the  central role aviation plays in a country’s GDP, this also bodes well for the increasingly robust local economy,” he said.

“Accordingly we are continually increasing capacity at Dubai International, the most recent example of which was the opening of the first phase of expansion at Terminal 2.”