Dubai: Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport have witnessed double digit growth in passenger traffic for the month of September.

Passenger growth in Abu Dhabi increased by 14.5 per cent in September compared to the same period last year with 1.2 million passengers passing through the airport’s facilities, according to a traffic report released by Abu Dhabi Airports Company on Tuesday.

Aircraft movement also grew by 8.4 per cent for September compared to the same month last year, an increase that is primarily due to Etihad’s new services and increase in flight frequencies.

Cargo recorded an increase of 24.9 percent for the same month compared to last year, registering 48,525 tonnes.

Dubai International Airport saw a 12.8 per cent in passenger number for September compared to the same month last year, reaching 4,780,390 passengers, according to the monthly traffic report issued by the airport operator Dubai Airports. The strong performance during the first nine months – seven of which recorded double-digit growth – has boosted the year to date traffic by 13.4 per cent to 42,565,340 compared to 37,547,744 recorded during the corresponding period last year.

The strongest markets in terms of percentage passenger growth were South America driven by new Emirates airline’s operations to destinations there, followed by Russia and CIS, Australia and North America as both demand and capacity increased on routes to Dallas, Seattle and Washington that were launched during the year.

Aircraft movements in September increased by 3.9 per cent. The airport handled 193,261 tonnes of cargo in September, an increase of 9.1 per cent over 177,128 tonnes recorded during the same period in 2011 and marks the highest monthly increase since October 2010.

In Dubai, most passengers were coming from Western Europe, the Indian subcontinent, AGCC and Africa. Contraction in traffic on Middle Eastern routes continued as a result of the ongoing situation in certain parts of the region.

In Abu Dhabi, the airport’s top five routes for the month were Bangkok, London, Doha, Manila and Cairo.