Dubai’s DXB records 13.6 million passengers in Q1 2022

Dubai International (DXB) has recorded 13.6 million passengers in Q1 2022, marking its busiest quarter since 2020. This is the second consecutive quarter when passenger traffic at DXB surpassed the 10-million mark.

It recorded 5.5 million in passenger traffic in March this year.

.@DXB records busiest quarter since 2020 with 13.6m passengers in Q1 2022, indicating that traffic recovery is gaining momentum at the world’s busiest international hub. https://t.co/iATtNxLIFn pic.twitter.com/ypHxsxCRCz

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) May 12, 2022

Passenger volumes in the first quarter of the year were up 15.7 per cent compared to 11.8 million in the final quarter of 2021. By comparison, DXB recorded 5.7 million passengers in the first quarter of 2021.

DXB handled a total of 519,555 tonnes of cargo during the first three months of 2022, recording a contraction of 15.5 per cent compared to the previous quarter during which the hub recorded 614,834 tonnes of airfreight.

Flight movements during the first quarter totalled 81,966, posting an increase of 5.8 per cent compared to the last quarter of 2021 during which 77,475 flights were recorded at DXB. India held its position as DXB’s top destination country with passenger traffic reaching 1.6 million, followed by Saudi Arabia (1.1 million), Pakistan (997,000) and the UK (934,000). The top three cities in terms of passenger numbers were London (617,000), Riyadh (517K), Jeddah (337,000), followed closely by Istanbul (324,000).

DXB is currently connected to 193 destinations across 92 countries via 73 scheduled international carriers.

“DXB’s performance over the past successive quarters is nothing short of impressive and is a direct outcome of Dubai’s clear strategy and efforts to restore international air connectivity and mobility and lead the global aviation industry out of an unprecedented crisis. While the recovery was initially led by point-to-point traffic, which continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels, the opening of international travel across many key markets has enabled transfer traffic to rebound to 60% of 2019 levels,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

The outlook for the year remains strong with annual traffic now projected to reach 58.3 million, exceeding initial forecasts by a significant margin, he added.

Dubai Airports also confirmed its plan to close Dubai International’s (DXB) northern runway from May 9 until June 22, 2022.

Read: Dubai Airports to close DXB’s northern runway for 45 days