Dubai International March passenger traffic up 5.8%; cargo dips 3.7%

Dubai: Despite the recent political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, Dubai International Airport increased its passenger numbers by 5.8 per cent last month against the same month a year ago.

Dubai Airports, which manages and operates Dubai International Airport, made the announcement yesterday in a statement, saying that passenger traffic increased to 4.2 million last month from 3.97 million in the same month last year.

Surge

During the first quarter of 2011, the airport experienced a 7 per cent surge in passengers with 12.3 million passing through the airport, against 11.5 million during the first quarter of 2010.

"Passenger traffic growth continues to be robust. At the current levels we are on track to exceed 50 million passengers this year," Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said in a statement.

Freight volumes, meanwhile, dipped 3.7 per cent last month as cargo fell to 185,921 tonnes in the month from 193,054 tonnes in the same month in 2010.

Dubai Airports said the decline was largely attributed to the air cargo traffic boom in 2010 as the global economy rebounded from the 2009 downturn, spiking freight volumes as companies around the world cleared inventories.

Unrest

Passenger traffic on Middle Eastern routes dropped 23,240 and a decline of 24,402 passengers was recorded on African routes as traffic was affected by political unrest in those regions.

The largest increases in passenger numbers last month were recorded on routes to and from Arab-GCC (up 137,255 passengers), Indian subcontinent (up 84,300 passengers), Asia Pacific (up 25,071) and Russia and CIS (up 21,165 passengers), according to Dubai Airports.