Dubai: Dubai International has been ranked the world’s second busiest airport for international passenger traffic by a global airport body, moving ahead of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for the first time, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the latest figures released by Airports Council International (ACI), international passenger traffic at Dubai International reached 4.8 million in February 2013, occupying the second global slot, while London Heathrow topped the list with 5.6 million passengers in the same period. Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, meanwhile, was ranked third with 4.7 million passengers.
Since the beginning of 2013, Dubai International has moved up two positions in the global rankings since last year, as per ACI statistics, according to Dubai Airports. “It is a clear signal that more people are choosing Dubai as their preferred hub not only for its extensive global network but the facilities on the ground too,” Paul Griffiths, chief executive, Dubai Airports, said in a statement.
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Moving ahead, Dubai International now has its eye firmly on London Heathrow’s title as the world’s busiest international airport. As Griffiths says: “Given our surging growth rate and London Heathrow’s capacity constraints we are well placed to overtake them as the world’s busiest airport for international traffic by 2015.”
Added analyst Saj Ahmad of StrategicAero Research: “The airport has continued to build on strong demand for travel via Dubai, owing to Emirates and flydubai’s aggressive expansion plans, and it’s likely that it will displace Heathrow within just two years in the rankings table.”
Passenger traffic at Dubai International, which connects to over 220 destinations across six continents through 130 scheduled airlines, witnessed a 13 per cent increase in passengers numbers in the first two months of the year, to 10.6 million passengers, up from 9.4 million for the same period in 2012. In February alone, the airport saw passenger numbers reach 50.8 million, marking an 11.4 per cent increase from the same period a year earlier.
