Dubai: Dubai International recorded an 11.7 per cent jump in passenger traffic to 5,675,246 in February compared to the 5,080,360 that travelled through the airport in the same month in 2013.
The airports body, Dubai Airports, attributed much of the growth to network expansions by flydubai and Emirates, in a statement on Tuesday. Earlier this year, flydubai began flights to Hofuf in Saudi Arabia and Emirates started services to Boston in the United States, Taipei in Taiwan and Kiev in Ukraine.
Earlier this week Tim Clark, Emirates’ President, told the UK’s Daily Telegraph that Kiev route was faring “badly” in the wake of the Ukrainian-Russian crisis.
Year-to-date passenger traffic increased 13.5 per cent to 12,075,952 in the first two months of the year, up from 10,640,120 over the same 2013 period.
The Indian subcontinent saw the highest passenger number growth during February with a 121,794 increase. Western Europe increased by 117,256, the Arabian Gulf by 102,217 and Asia by 66,925. On track for top spot
“With only a little more than 800,000 passengers separating Dubai International from London Heathrow during 2013, we are on track to take over the top spot by 2015,” stated Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer, Dubai Airports.
Australasia overtook Eastern Europe as the fastest-expanding region, growing by 30.5 per cent.
Eastern Europe fell to third place with 17.4 per cent growth in February after recording 42 per cent growth in January 2014 and overall growth of 57.4 per cent for 2013.
Freight volumes rose by 3.4 per cent to 188,702 tonnes in February compared to the same month 2013.
