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Paul Griffiths: “The pace of the growth we’re seeing is frenetic” |
UAE. Passenger volumes at Dubai International Airport surged by +21.8% year-on-year in March to a record monthly figure of 3.96 million, Dubai Airports has reported.
Q1 traffic growth was up +20.4% compared to a year ago. That growth is good news for Dubai Duty Free, whose sales are running at strong double-digit increases compared to last year.
The passenger increases in March were due to the worldwide economic recovery, capacity increases by Emirates throughout its network, new routes launched by flydubai along, and additional frequencies and routes offered by other airlines operating into Dubai International, the company said.
Although passenger numbers grew +21.8%, total aircraft movements rose just +9.6%, indicating that load factors and average aircraft size have increased. The strongest traffic increases were seen on routes to North America, Russia and CIS and Asia, the latter receiving a boost from Chinese New Year. The highest passenger volumes were generated by traffic to and from India, the UK, Iran, Germany and Pakistan.
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said: “The pace of the growth we’re seeing is frenetic thanks to capacity increases, gradually improving economic conditions and rising consumer confidence.
“Although last week’s operational disruptions due to European airspace closures will have an impact on April’s traffic results, the strong surge of traffic created as airlines clear the backlog across their networks will go a long way in making up the difference.”