Dubai Airport passenger traffic tops 4 mln mark

Dubai Airport passenger traffic tops 4 mln mark

Traffic up 14.3 pct in July y/y.

August 24, 2010 12:57 by Reuters

Passengers travelling through Dubai International Airport hit 4.3 million in July for the first time, up 14.3 percent from a year earlier, driven by growth in traffic with Eastern Europe.

Dubai International competes with Heathrow and Beijing airports for international traffic, with some analysts suggesting its consistent growth could help it eventually become the world’s busiest international airport.

The closest it had previously come to the four million mark was in March when traffic stood at 3.97 million. The airport handled 3.77 million passengers in July 2009.

The highest traffic growth recorded for July was 219 percent between Dubai and Eastern Europe, while Asia grew 34 percent, followed by 29 percent for Russia and former soviet states.

Higher passenger volumes were seen with Western Europe, the Gulf Arab region and the Indian Subcontinent, driven by increased capacity and new routes launched by Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates.

Cargo traffic maintained double-digit growth for the tenth consecutive month, with the airport handling 197,845 tonnes of freight in July versus 160,289 tonnes a year ago, an increase of 23.5 percent.

(Reporting by Tamara Walid; Editing by Reed Stevenson)