Emirates to fly over 300,000 passengers during Eid Al Adha

Dubai: Emirates is expecting more than 300,000 passengers to travel out of the UAE in September and the upcoming Eid Al Adha period as travellers head home or abroad for short holidays.

Over 76,000 passengers will travel on Friday (September 18), Emirates said in a statement. The overall figures for the holiday travel period represent a growth of around 65 per cent over 2014.

Short haul travel will represent around 52 per cent of bookings, and long haul travel is expected at 48 per cent.

While the busiest day for the airline will be Friday, it expects high passenger traffic until September 28. The top destinations that travellers are heading to are Dhaka, London, Cairo, Mumbai and Karachi.

In terms of inbound travellers, Emirates expects over 190,000 passengers to arrive in Dubai from destinations in the UK, India, Germany, Australia, the US and South Africa.

“We continue to see travellers coming back in greater numbers during holiday periods,” Shaikh Majid Al Mualla, Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Centre, at Emirates, said in a statement.

The airline will also be accommodating for over 20,000 Hajj travellers during the pilgrimage period.