Dubai International becomes third busiest airport in the world

Dubai International airport has become the third busiest airport in the world for international passengers recording a 13.2 per cent annual growth in passenger traffic in 2012.

The annual traffic report issued by the Dubai Airports, the operator of the airport, said the passenger traffic surged to nearly 58 million last year, up from 50.9 million passengers recorded in 2011.

The passenger traffic also exceeded the Dubai Airports’ forecast at the beginning of the year of 56.5 million by more than one million passengers.

India remained Dubai International’s single biggest country destination in terms of passenger numbers. The passenger traffic between Dubai and India continued to show robust growth during the past year, with total passenger traffic rising 7.4 per cent year on year to 7.34 million passengers in 2012.

Aircraft movements for 2012 reached 344,245 movements, up 5.5 per cent from the 326,318 movements recorded in 2011.

The airport’s year-end numbers were bolstered by a record 5.3 million passengers in December 2012, 13.4 per cent higher than the 4.69 million passengers recorded in December 2011 and the second month in Dubai International’s 52-year history that passenger traffic has exceeded 5 million passengers.

Freight volumes rebounded towards the end of last year, helping total volumes for 2012 rise 3.9 per cent to 2.28 million tonnes from 2.19 million tonnes recorded in 2011. In December, cargo volumes climbed 6.5 per cent from 189,593 tonnes in December 2011 to 201,949 tonnes in December 2012.

WAM