Dubai Still Number One For International Passengers

Dubai International Airport has retained its number one spot for international passenger numbers after announcing strong December figures.

December’s total of 7.7 million passengers passing through the airport was a 9.3 percent increase on the same period of 2015.

For full year 2016, the airport saw 83.6 million passengers, 7.2 percent up on 2015.

India was the airport’s busiest destination country with 11.4 million passengers, a 10.1 percent uplift from 2015. Saudi Arabia was second with 6.1 million, and the United Kingdom third, with just 25,000 fewer passengers.

In destination terms, London was the most popular with 3.75 million passengers, with Doha second on a shade under 3 million. Mumbai was third with 2.36 million.

With Emirates’ dominance of Dubai International, and their large Airbus A380 fleet, passenger numbers per flight rose 4 percent to 209. The airport reported even stronger numbers for December with 224 passengers per flight.

DXB saw a slight recovery in cargo volumes in the fourth quarter, contributing to the year’s total of 2.6 million tonnes, a 3.4 percent increase on 2015. December alone saw a volume increase of 5.4 percent in freight throughput.

“After emerging as the world’s number one airport for international passengers in 2014, DXB has firmly established itself as the leader in that category,” Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said.

“With our new forecast for 89 million passengers in 2017, DXB is closing the gap on Atlanta and Beijing for the top spot in overall traffic.”