Business | Aviation
Abu Dhabi Airport sees 32.3% YTD passenger growth to November
Abu Dhabi International Airport has reported a 32.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic up to November.
- Staff Report
- Published: 16:54 December 22, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi International Airport has reported a 32.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic up to November.
Traffic in November alone, over the same month last year, also showed significant growth with a passenger increase of 27.4 per cent.
While UAE National Day and the Eid Al Adha holidays supported an increase in passenger loads in November there was a significant increase due to Haj pilgrim traffic to and from Saudi Arabia - this becoming a significant driver of passenger loads for the month.
During the Haj period, Abu Dhabi International Airport handled a total of 14,784 pilgrims which increased passenger traffic to Saudi Arabia by 34.5 per cent. This moved the Kingdom into the third most served market from Abu Dhabi in November.
Yearly target
Total passenger movement for the trailing 12 months to the end of November saw the airport handle 8,928,622 passengers.
Abu Dhabi Airports Company officials also remain confident that, for the period January to December 2008, the airport will remain on course to reach the nine million passengers per year milestone.
Cargo traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport continued its steady growth through 2008 posting 14 per cent and 11.6 per cent for the year to date and November respectively.
Aircraft movements saw a similar trend with 14.4 per cent growth in the first 11 months and 11.8 per cent in November.
"The continued growth of the airport's home airline, Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, continues to be a significant driver in growing passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International as well as increasing our efforts to increase frequencies and routes with other airlines," said Rudy Vercelli, CEO of ADAC.
"While we have welcomed six new airlines to Abu Dhabi airports in this calendar year alone, we are also working closely with existing partner airlines -most recently, Singapore Airlines has announced an increase to a daily service between Abu Dhabi and Singapore, from March next year."
In data released alongside the traffic figures, ADAC also released the top five most popular city destinations travelled from/to Abu Dhabi in November 2008. Bangkok is in this list.
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