Dubai International Airport saw an impressive boost in traffic by 23.8% in August, making it the busiest month in terms of passenger numbers in Dubai International’s history.

 

According to the report, the monthly passenger traffic at Dubai International – the world’s second busiest international airport surged – reached 5,999,375 in August, a year on year increase of 23.8% compared to 4,847,152 in the corresponding month in 2012.

 

Dubai Interntaional says that ‘the surge’ is the result of a strong growth in almost all markets and the effect of Ramadan and Eid travel, which further boosted traffic during the month.

 

With monthly traffic breaching the 5m passenger mark for nine consecutive months, the year to date passenger number increased by 16.4% to 43,971,839 compared to 37,784,946 recorded during the first eight months of 2012.

 

5M PAX A MONTH

Spurred by the strong growth in markets such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, the AGCC routes topped the list of regions with the largest growth in passenger numbers (+289,021), Western Europe (+258,288) – which has been positively affected by the launch of Qantas’ services to Dubai.

 

This was followed by the traditionally strong market of the Indian subcontinent (+163,657), and Africa (+89,533). The top regions in terms of percentage growth in traffic included Eastern Europe (82%), Australasia (45%), and Asia Pacific (40.4%).

 

[Left: Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports]

 

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said, “The results have been very satisfying so far this year with the airport achieving traffic growth rate well over the projected figures.

 

“While five million passengers per month has become a standard at Dubai International, it’s worth noting that in August we were barely two Airbus A380s short of hitting the 6m passenger figure.

 

“The signs are good for the remainder of the year, the highlight of which will be the launch of passenger operations at Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC). We have signed MoUs with two airlines and are in discussion with a number of other carriers to start services at the new airport while Wizz Air has confirmed it will start operations on October 27th as DWC’s launch customer.”