Dubai: Dubai International Airport (DXB) has retained its spot as the world’s busiest for international passengers in October, revealed aviation consultancy OAG.
DXB has also retained its spot as the second busiest ‘global airport’ in the world, measuring both domestic and international airline capacity, according to the data revealed by OAG in early November 2022. The data is updated every month.
Dubai Airports experienced a busy October, catering to over 2.1 million passengers, thanks to the 10-day half-term school break from October 21-30. An average of 215,000 passengers are estimated to have passed through DXB during this time.
The October study from OAG also retained London Heathrow as the second busiest international airport, with a 2 per cent higher capacity than last month. Amsterdam and Paris Charles de Gaulle remain in third and fourth places with slight capacity decreases compared to September 2022.
Out of the top 10 Busiest International Airports in October 2022, seven were in the top ten in October 2019.
“The airports which have seen their rankings rise, bringing them into the top 10 now, are Doha (from 13th to 8th), London Gatwick (from 16th to 9th) and Madrid (from 14th to 10th),” said the OAG report.
Among the global airports, six of the top 10 this month were among the world’s top 10 busiest airports compared to October 2019. Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Istanbul, and Delhi international airports saw a jump in rankings.
DXB may return to pre-pandemic passenger traffic by next year
The UAE is set to register a boost of inbound passenger traffic during the winter months – September to December. It would also host many football fans headed to Doha, Qatar, for the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Last month, DXB announced that the Middle East hub could see monthly passenger traffic return to pre-pandemic levels in the latter half of next year.
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths earlier said 62.4 million passengers were now expected to travel through the airport this year, about 7 per cent more than its most recent forecast after traffic more than doubled in the first half.
The airport expects an average of 5.6 million a month in the second half of this year. Dubai airport screened 27.9 million passengers in the first half of 2022, compared to 10.6 million a year ago, while second quarter traffic nearly tripled to 14.9 million. India remained DXB’s top destination country by passenger numbers, with traffic for the first half reaching four million passengers.
