Dubai’s DXB sees passenger traffic reach 95.6% of 2019 levels in Q1 2023

Traffic at Dubai International (DXB) has reached 95.6 per cent of 2019 levels with passenger numbers exceeding 21.2 million in the first quarter of the year.

This follows DXB’s strong performance in 2022 when the airport clocked 66 million passengers to retain its position as the world’s busiest international hub for the ninth year running.

DXB’s passenger traffic reached 21,256,489 during the first three months of the year, up 55.8 per cent compared to Q1 2022, and marking the first time since Q4 of 2019 when average monthly traffic reached the seven-million passenger-mark.

March was the busiest month in the first quarter with 7.3 million passengers, which is also the highest monthly traffic since January 2020 when DXB recorded 7.8m passengers.

DXB: Q1 2023 key highlights

The airport is currently connected to 234 destinations across 99 countries via 89 scheduled international carriers.

India remained DXB’s top destination country with passenger traffic reaching three million, followed by Saudi Arabia (1.6 million), the UK (1.4 million), and Pakistan (one million passengers). Other countries of note include the US (840,000 passengers), Russia (729,000) and Germany (628,000).

The list of top cities by passenger numbers was led by London (890,000 passengers) Mumbai (645,000), and Jeddah (641,000), followed closely by Riyadh (604,000 passengers).

Catch our Q1 2023 traffic results: https://t.co/LkjrgG0Bns

— DXB (@DXB) May 9, 2023

DXB handled a total of 400,015 tonnes of cargo during Q1, a reduction of 23 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2022 during which the hub had handled 519,555 tonnes of airfreight.

Total flight movements during Q1 reached 100,840, a year-on-year increase of 23 per cent and 1.6 per cent higher than Q1 of 2019 when DXB recorded a total of 99,197 movements.

With load factors exceeding 2019 levels throughout the first quarter and reaching 80 per cent in March, passenger per aircraft movement grew 19.5 per cent.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports: “DXB’s performance in the first quarter has exceeded our expectations and reflects the strong growth in demand that we are continuing to see across our key markets. With important developments in the international travel sector such as the further easing of travel protocols in China, and the upcoming local annual seasonal peaks and festive holidays, our outlook for the second quarter and the remainder of the year remains bullish. Accordingly, we have had to readjust our traffic forecast for 2023 upward to 83.6 million passengers, which will put DXB within striking distance of our 2019 annual traffic.”

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Also read: Globally, air traffic now 88% of March 2019 levels, says IATA