Dubai airport maintains double-digit passenger growth

Dubai airport will introduce contactless departure and arrival from next year and that will help attract more passengers, according to an aviation expert.

Dubai International airport continued double-digit growth in passenger traffic for the first three quarters of the year compared to the same period last year

28 October 2015.

Last August, the airport witnessed bumper traffic and crossed the 7 million mark for passenger numbers in a month for the first time. Last month, passenger traffic rose 8.2 per cent to 6.43 million compared to 5.9 million in September 2014, according to a traffic report issued on Wednesday by operator Dubai Airports.

Last year, Dubai airport overtook London's Heathrow as the world's busiest airport for international travellers.

"... We expect the trend to continue throughout the remainder of the year. We are pleased to be all set for another year of record growth," Dubai Airports chief executive officer Paul Griffiths said in a statement.

Dubai airport will introduce contactless departure and arrival from next year and that will help attract more passengers, according to an aviation expert.

Year-to-date traffic rose 12 per cent to 58.69 million compared to 52.4 million recorded during the first nine months of 2014.

Aircraft movements totalled 34,146 during September, an increase of 10.6 per cent from the 30,871 recorded during the same month last year. Year-to-date aircraft movements surged 17.2 to 302,399 compared to 257,981 recorded during the corresponding period in 2014 due primarily to the impact of the 80-day runway upgrade programme conducted last year.

Passengers per aircraft movement in September came in at 198, while the year-to-date figure remained a high 203 - driven by the Emirates' fleet of wide-body aircraft which makes it the world's largest operator of A380s and Boeing 777s.
 
Eastern Europe topped all markets in terms of percentage passenger growth, followed by the GCC, which was mainly driven by growth in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar; and North America - as a result of Emirates increasing capacity on several routes and launch of additional daily flights to both New York and Seattle. In terms of overall passenger traffic, the GCC was the top market during the month, closely followed by the Indian subcontinent.

Air freight volumes recorded a marginal increase of 0.3 per cent in September with volumes of 207,315 tonnes compared to 206,643 recorded during the same month last year. Year-to-date cargo traffic totalled 1,853,130 tonnes, up 2.6 per cent from the 1.8 million tonnes shipped during the first nine months last year.