As expected, Dubai International Airport has become the leading international airport in the world after achieving a 6.1% passenger increase to 70.47m in 2014.

 

Dubai Airports confirmed the result today, reporting the exact total of 70,475,636 passengers, which was bolstered by a strong 7.5% passenger growth in December totalling 6,498,573.

 

HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports said: “This historic milestone is the culmination of over five decades of double-digit average growth that were inspired by the vision of the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

 

“It is a vision that has been carried forward strongly by our leader HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

 

 

“The shared goal is to make Dubai a global centre of aviation and we are nearing that goal thanks to an open skies policy, a friendly business environment, Dubai’s growing attractiveness as a centre for trade, commerce and tourism, growing network connectivity due to the rapid expansion of Emirates and flydubai and timely investment in aviation infrastructure.”

 

EUROPE WAS TOP GROWTH MARKET

Dubai Airports reports that the top growth market in passenger volume terms was Western Europe (+1,192,831 passengers), closely followed by the Indian Subcontinent (+936,449 passengers); Asia (+716,180); and North America (+432,597).

 

 

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports added: “Much like 2014, 2015 promises to be another eventful year featuring more record passenger numbers and facility upgrades, including the opening of Concourse D which will boost Dubai International’s capacity to 90 million.

 

 

“Today we are also releasing our projections for 2015 traffic at Dubai International which forecast 79 million passengers. We will have more flights connecting more people to more destinations. And we will be fully focussed on rolling out technology, new F&B concepts and service initiatives that further enhance the passenger experience.”

 

Dubai Airports added that aircraft movements in December rose by 4% to 34,136, up marginally from the 32,832 recorded during December 2013. Full year aircraft movements totalled 357,339 compared to 369,953 versus 2013, a contraction of 3.4%.

 

 

This was mainly due to the temporary reduction of flights experienced during the 80-day runway refurbishment project during the summer, and the shift of freight operators and general aviation to Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) earlier this year.

 

 

Meanwhile, Dubai also benefited from the continued rise in the number of wide-bodied aircraft servicing the airport, with passenger numbers per flight up by a significant 5.1% to 208.3 for the full year.