Around 6.68 million served in the premier airport of the Emirates
Emirates’ international gateway to the rest of the world, Dubai International Airport, has been busy welcoming more than 6.68 million passengers who have passed through the various terminals of the airport in July. The airport authorities declared on Wednesday that this has seen an increase of 29.6% compared to last year’s July figures.
The reason behind the low passenger figures in July 2014 was because of the large scale renovation of the airport runway; a billion dollar project that went on for eighty days. The capacity of the airport was reduced to just one functioning runway, resulting in over only 5.15 million passengers.
A statement from the authorities also mentions the positive figures of the first half of the current year; which recorded more than 44.98 million passengers. Compared to the same seven month period last year, this has increased by 12.9%.
Passengers from the Gulf Co-operation Council far outnumber all other regions of the world in terms of the total number, with the Western Europe and Indian subcontinent following close by.
By country, the top five passenger suppliers were Saudi Arabia, United States, United Kingdom, India, and Pakistan.
Some of the top destinations that saw the most passengers included Doha, Jeddah, Kuwait, Mumbai, and London from Dubai International Airport.
Witnessing the strongest once again in July, Eastern Europe leads the pack with a 77.6% growth due to the new services to destinations like Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovakia by Flydubai and flights to Hungary by Emirates.
Followed by Russia, CIS, and North America, the GCC region placed second in terms of growth.
The airport also saw an increase in the volume of freight, i.e. 8% to 205,526 tons in the month of July. In the first seven month period of the current year, a total freight of 1,438,904 tons were handled by the airport, which was again up to 2.7% per annum.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said, “At DXB, it has become regular for more than six million passengers to avail our services per month. We wish to carry on this positive streak for the remaining part of the year as well.”
“We have kept the service standards high in spite of the heavy passenger traffic in July, as we have focused on the implementation of operational plans in detail and heightening staff levels, bringing about a boost in communication with our business associates as well as valued customers,” added the Chief Executive Officer.
It is to be mentioned that last year, Dubai Airport made a breakthrough by overtaking Heathrow International Airport, London, as the world’s busiest international travel airport.
In the first part of the year, Paul Griffiths announced that UAE’s two chief international airports expected to welcome about 200 million passengers by the year 2030, including Al Maktoum airport.
“By the year 2020, we want to see Dubai International Airport increase capacity to a humongous 100 million. The traffic of air travel through Dubai is projected to be 126 million,” he further said.
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