Dubai Airport records a 200,000 passenger rush on Eid day

Dubai: Within a 24-hour timeframe, Dubai Airports oversaw 200,000 passengers passing through, of which 110,000 were arrivals, during the bustling Eid Al Fitr rush. 

The emirate’s Media Office tweeted on Monday, “Dubai Airports manages 200,000 passengers and 110,000 arrivals in 24 hours.” Lieutenant-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director-General of General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA), said the number of passengers through Dubai Airport is constantly increasing this year.

Before the holidays, Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates said it would significantly ramp up its Middle East flight capacity between April 19 and May 31. The airline added 38 additional flights to six cities in the GCC and Middle East. This year, more than 110,000 travellers were expected to board Emirates flights during Eid Al Fitr across the region, with additional flights operating to Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Medina, Kuwait and Beirut.

Dubai Airport was crowned the world's busiest airport for a ninth consecutive year by the Airports Council International (ACI) earlier this month. Passenger traffic more than doubled to over 66 million in 2022 on the back of a solid recovery in international travel. DXB has since raised its passenger forecast for 2023 to 78 million.

In the final three months of 2022, DXB handled passenger numbers that reached pre-pandemic levels. The CEO of Dubai Airports, Paul Griffiths, said retaining the busiest airport title ‘comes as no surprise' given Dubai International’s stellar performance throughout 2022 and the upsurge in traffic in the final quarter.