Dubai: Three million passengers used the e-gate at Dubai airport in the past ten months, said a senior Ministry of Interior official.
Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai said yesterday the total number of passengers to and from the UAE through Dubai Airports e-gates during the first ten months of this year amounted to three million passengers — an increase of 217,381 passengers over the past year.
During an inspection tour of the electronic services sector yesterday Major General Al Merri said the total number of e-gate cards that were issued during the same period is 89,120 e-gate cards.
He added that the number of Takamul's online service transactions — which link the residency department with the Preventive Medicine of Ministry of Health and Dubai Health for medical examination — reached 644,420.
Significant tally
"The total number of transactions through Tabadul online service with Ministry of Labour is 315,61 transactions," he said.
Major General Al Merri added that the number of visitors to the residency department's website was more than two million visitors, while the number of transactions that were completed through the online service was around three million transactions.
The number of transactions for the e-form services was three million.
The total movements of entry and exit of passengers through the border e-linking reached 617,024 passengers.
Dubai Passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport is expected to reach 52.2 million next year, up 13.1 per cent from the 46.1 million passengers expected to pass through the airport this year, a statement said.
"Growth will be driven by a projected 10 per cent increase in Emirates passenger numbers and an anticipated doubling of flyDubai traffic in 2011 as both airlines continue to expand their respective fleets and networks," the statement said.
Passenger numbers at Dubai International surpassed the four million mark for the second time in the airport's 50-year history in October and that monthly total will soon become the norm, according to traffic results and projections released by Dubai Airports.
Dubai Airports' traffic statistics for October show that Dubai International handled a total of 4,013,127 passengers up 14.8 per cent from the 3,496,366 recorded during October last year. Year to date passenger numbers total 38,851,488 compared to the 33,565,105 recorded in the corresponding period in 2009, an increase of 15.7 per cent.
"Our vision to manage the world's top international airport is coming into focus," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.
"Over the past 50 years Dubai International has seen passenger numbers increase by an average 15.5 per cent annually."
