Dubai: Passengers travelling through Dubai airports increased by 6.8 per cent in August year-on-year while cargo movement jumped 21.5 per cent.
Dubai Airports said in a statement on Thursday: ”After a record month in July, August passenger numbers fell just short of the 4 million mark at 3,987,184 up 6.8 per cent compared to the same period last year, when strong traffic growth saw 3,734,682 passengers pass through the facility”.
“Year to date passenger traffic is up 14.7 per cent as 30,849,555 million passengers have passed through Dubai International, compared to 26,900,736 during the corresponding period last year.”
During August, the largest increases in total passenger numbers were recorded on routes to and from Western Europe (+84,953 passengers), Asia (+65,210 passengers) and the Indian subcontinent (+52,538 passengers). The largest percentage passenger traffic expansion was seen on routes to and from Eastern Europe (217 per cent), Asia (25 per cent), Australasia (14 per cent) and Russia and CIS (14 per cent). Passenger numbers on Middle Eastern routes fell 7 per cent, largely due to the affects of Ramadan.
Cargo volumes grew an impressive 21.5 per cent to 198,543 tonnes in August compared to 163,427 tonnes, during the same month in 2009, spurred by increased economic activity in Asia and other regional markets.
It was the eleventh consecutive month of double-digit growth. Year to date cargo volumes total 1,498,244 tonnes compared to 1,198,546 tonnes during the same period in 2009, up by 25 per cent.
“Growth continues from the very strong base that was established last year and is largely the result of the rapid expansion of flydubai, which is now the second largest source of passenger traffic at Dubai International, and the broadening of Emirates’ already impressive network with the addition of new destinations in Europe, Africa and Asia,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.
“Over the past 12 months we’ve seen our rolling passenger total rise to 45 million which puts us on track to meet our projection for 46 million".
