Over 6.9m passengers at DXB in February

DUBAI

Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport rose 8.8 per cent in February to reach just over 6.9 million, according to operator Dubai Airports.

In a statement on Tuesday, Dubai Airports said the figures for February bring year-to-date passenger traffic at the airport to around 15 million, a 9.3 per cent uptick compared to the 13.7 million recorded in the first two months of 2016.

India remained the top destination country in February, with a total of 937,962 passengers, followed by the UK (516,611 passengers), Saudi Arabia (499,797 passengers) and Pakistan (351,477).

In terms of destination cities, London topped the list, followed by Doha, Bangkok and Mumbai.

“This robust growth in passenger numbers in February follows the record eight million passengers in January, and with the seasonal rush of passengers over the spring break over the past four days, during which we welcomed over 1.1 million passengers, we are looking forward to impressive Q1 (first quarter) results,” Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, said in a statement.

Flight movements at Dubai International in February totalled 32,483, down 2.7 per cent year-on-year. The figure brings flight movements in the first two months of 2017 to 69,075, a 0.2 per cent decline over the same period in 2016.