| Kippreport.com

Dubai Feb Airport Passengers Jump 19 Pct Y/Y

March 28, 2012 5:00 by kippreport

Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport jumped 19 percent from a year earlier in February, the fastest increase in 16 months, while cargo volume also rose, Dubai Airports said on Tuesday.
The airport, one of the world’s busiest, handled 4.56 million passengers last month, up from 3.83 million at the same time last year.
“February marks the 12th consecutive month with passenger traffic exceeding the 4 million mark, and with the growth expected to maintain momentum in the coming months we are well on track to achieve the targeted 56.5 million passenger traffic for 2012,” Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said.
February freight volume climbed 6.5 percent from a year earlier to 157,492 tonnes after falling slightly in January.
The airport operator attributed last month’s growth partly to the timing of the Chinese New Year – the long holidays were in February 2011 but in January 2012 – and to the 2012 leap year, which added an extra day to last month. But it also cited expansion of the route network ofDubai’s Emirates airline.
The airport plans to open an Airbus A380-only facility by next year to increase annual capacity to 75 million passengers, it said. Currently, annual capacity is 60 million.
Dubai International also said aircraft movements grew 9.8 percent from a year earlier to 27,058 in February. The largest increase in passenger growth continued to come from the Gulf region, followed by the Indian subcontinent. (Reporting by Nour Merza; Editing by Andrew Torchia)