Abu Dhabi: More than 23 million passengers passed through the terminals at Abu Dhabi International Airport in 2015, marking a 17.2 per cent increase in passenger traffic compared to 2014.
In a statement released on Saturday, Abu Dhabi Airports said that 2.1 million passengers passed through the airport in December alone — up 15.2 per cent from the 1.8 million passing through in December 2014.
The four busiest periods ever were in July, August, September, and December.
Abu Dhabi Airports attributed a large proportion of the increase in traffic to Etihad Airways, which carried 17.4 million passengers in 2015 (an 18.4 per cent increase over 2014). The expansion of the Abu Dhabi-based airline’s network through Alitalia and Jet Airways contributed to a double-digit increase in passenger figures to Italy, India, and the US.
With these and other new services, the airport saw an additional 271 flights per week to various destinations during the summer.
Aircraft movements
More than 74 per cent of the total passengers to and from Abu Dhabi International Airport in 2015 were carried by Etihad Airways.
Aircraft movements went up by 11.6 per cent in 2015 over 2014 to reach 172,819 movements.
Traffic between Abu Dhabi and the US jumped 39.4 per cent last year following the launch of several new direct Etihad services. The five strongest country destinations in 2015 were: India, the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the USA, which together recorded more than nine million passengers coming through the airport last year.
In 2015, Abu Dhabi International Airport handled 827,456 metric tonnes of cargo, up 3.8 per cent from 2014’s figures of 797,069.
