UAE. Passenger numbers at Dubai International Airport were up by +11.4% year on year in February, with strong performances on its busiest routes and new flights to Eastern Europe among the drivers of growth.
A total 5.08 million passengers passed through the hub last month, up from 4.56 million in February 2012. In the first two months of 2013, passenger numbers were up +13% to 10.64 million.
Eastern Europe was the fastest expanding market in terms of percentage growth (+29.6%), boosted by new services to Poland (Emirates) and Macedonia (flydubai). Asia Pacific (+21.8%), Russia & CIS (+18.5%) and AGCC (+16.5%) also showed strong growth. The Middle East was the only region to record fewer travellers, with a drop of -1.6%.
Traffic on routes to Dubai International’s largest market, the Indian Subcontinent, was up +10.8% while the next two largest destinations in terms of market size, the UK and Saudi Arabia, saw growth of +5.2% and +42.3% respectively. Saudi Arabia also grew strongly, driven by new services launched in 2012 by Emirates, flydubai, nasair and Saudi Arabian Airlines.
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With Emirates operating more A380s, the average passenger count per aircraft rose |
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said: “We continue to stay ahead of the curve in terms of our traffic forecast of 65.4 million passengers in 2013,” said. “We are also on track in terms of introducing capacity to meet demand. Concourse A is fully online and setting new standards for A380 service.
“Additionally, the expansion of Terminal 2 is proceeding on plan as is the upgrade of Terminal 1 and the construction of Concourse D. All three projects are integral elements of our US$7.8 billion airport strategic plan to boost capacity and augment service levels over the next several years.”
Aircraft movements in February reached 28,085, up +3.8% year on year, while average passengers per aircraft movement, an indicator of airport efficiency and fleet mix, was up +4.4% to 201. The airport said this was largely due to the increased numbers of Emirates Airline A380s.
Freight volumes continued their growth in February, up +15.9% to 182,580 tonnes. Year-to-date cargo volumes were up +12.1% to 370,099 tonnes.
