Dubai Airport reports 13.7% increase in April passenger traffic
Dubai International Airport served 6.1 million passengers in April, marking an increase of 13.7% compared with 5.42 passengers during the corresponding period in 2013.
Dubai International Airport served 6.1 million passengers in April, marking an increase of 13.7% compared with 5.42 million passengers during the corresponding period in 2013.
The increase represents the third time the airport has recorded monthly traffic of over six million passengers in four months.
Aircraft movements and monthly air cargo volumes also saw an increase of 2.5% and 3.7% repsectively, in compared to the figures taken in April 2013.
"We will be well-placed to resume the strong growth achieved so far this year by August."
Western Europe saw the highest growth in regional passenger numbers in April, followed by the Indian subcontinent, where growth was primarily driven in particular by double-digit rise in passenger traffic from the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Islamabad.
During the first four months of 2014, traffic increased 11.9% to 24.52 million passengers, up from 21.9 million in the same period the previous year.
Dubai International Airport expects a decrease in traffic growth between May and July, as one of the airport's two runways will be closed for refurbishment and upgrade works. Several airlines have moved their flights to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central during the closure.
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said: "We are pleased to report that we were able to deliver the southern runway four days ahead of schedule, thanks to the hard work and co-operation between Dubai Airports, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects and construction crews.
"Importantly, we have managed to do so without any significant inconvenience to our passengers. Operations at both airports have been smooth to date, which are largely due to a robust planning process and timely coordination of day-to-day changes between all stakeholders."
The airport plans to use the additional days for work on the northern runway, which will remain closed for refurbishment until 20 July.
"While there is still a lot of work to be done, we will be well-placed to resume the strong growth achieved so far this year by August, with new runways that can accommodate more aircraft while improving efficiency and service to our passengers," Griffiths added.
