Dubai International airport recorded more than five million pax in July for the first time in its history. The previous high for monthly traffic at Dubai International was 4.85 million passengers recorded in January this year.

 

The Middle East airport operator handled a total of 5,006,155 passengers in July compared to 4,724,109 in July 2011, a year on year increase of 6%. Year to date traffic reached 32,937,794 up 12.4%.

 

Dubai International doubled its annual capacity to 60 million passengers with the opening of Terminal 3 in 2008. Four years later the airport says it is nearing capacity once more, with 56.5 million passengers projected to pass through the facility in 2012.

 

Dubai Airports’ Strategic Plan 2020 is said to boost airport capacity to 90 million by 2018. “The next milestone is Concourse 3, the world’s first purpose-built A380 facility, which will boost capacity to 75 million passengers. It will open once it has successfully completed all operational readiness tests,” which is anticipated to occur during the first quarter of 2013.

 

SOUTH AMERICA REGION +82.6%

Regions with the highest percentage growth recorded in July included South America (82.6%), Russia and CIS (38.6%), and Australasia (16.4%). The impact of traffic fluctuations during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan were felt on traffic from AGCC (+0.%) and Middle Eastern (–9.2 %) routes.

 

[Left: Dubai International airport, Concourse 3]

 

The largest regional traffic growth in July in terms of total passenger numbers was recorded on routes to and from Western Europe (+106,926), Africa (+41,990), the Indian subcontinent (+41,706), and Asia (+40,840).

 

“This is yet another record for Dubai International and one that we had anticipated based on the growth trends in the first half of the year,” says Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. “Since 2009 average monthly traffic at Dubai International has skyrocketed from just under 3.5 million in 2009 to over 4.7 million in 2012. This clearly signals our emergence as a leading global hub.”

 

“July’s traffic volumes mean that an average of 112 passengers passed through our airport every minute of every day. By 2018, when we expect to complete the expansion of Dubai International, that will soar to  just under 170 passengers per minute.

 

Griffiths says that this is why the company is investing $7.8 billion in the future of Dubai international airport. In turn that investment will drive an increase in aviation’s contributions to Dubai’s GDP from the current $22 billion to 45.4 billion in 2020.