DUBAI GOES DOUBLE DIGIT

Dubai International has registered nine straight months of double-digit growth according to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports this week. Dubai International handled 5,418,946 passengers in April, an increase of 18.7% compared to 4,566,673 during the corresponding month in 2012. April was the fifth consecutive month with more than five million passengers passing through Dubai International. The year to date traffic increased by 16.3% to 21,905,363 compared to 18,828,279 recorded in the first four months of 2012. In April, the top destination countries included India with a total of 672,557 passengers, followed by the UK (419,053) and Saudi Arabia (405,695) while Doha (207,146), London (201,587) and Jeddah (151,517) were the top destination cities. The largest increase in total passenger numbers was recorded on the Western European routes (up 207,120 passengers), followed by the AGCC (180,600), and the Indian subcontinent (160,372). Middle Eastern routes that were affected by political instability until the beginning of 2013 recorded moderate growth in April (23,365). Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, commented: “It is very clear that our growth rate has picked up and that should continue at a similar pace into the next quarter and beyond. Given the central role aviation plays in a country’s GDP, this also bodes well for the increasingly robust local economy. Accordingly we are continually increasing capacity at Dubai International, the most recent example of which was the opening of the first phase of expansion at Terminal 2.” with overall passenger numbers as the base traffic figures can be smaller.