Dubai International Airport handled 18.36 million passengers in the first three months of the year, with growth in March coming from the Indian subcontinent and Western Europe.
Passenger traffic in Q1 was up 11.4% year-on-year from the 16.5 million passengers that passed through the hub in the first quarter of 2013.
In March alone, 6.29 million passed through the airport, up 7.5% year-on-year and driven by the expanding networks of Emirates airline and flydubai, according to operator Dubai Airports.
“The growth in passenger and freight traffic supports our continued investment in expanding and improving our facilities at Dubai International,” said Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths.
“We not only want to increase our capacity to accommodate more passengers but continually refine the service we offer our customers.
“A key element of this programme is the upgrading and refurbishment of both Dubai International’s runways over 80 days beginning May 1. We have focused our efforts over the past few months to ensure smooth operations during this period and minimising any inconvenience to our passengers while in the long run boosting safety, service and capacity levels at the airport.”
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Regionally, the Indian subcontinent again recorded the highest growth in passenger numbers in March (+112,953 passengers), followed by Western Europe (+75,283), the GCC (+60,280) and Asia (+58,851).
Australasia was the fastest-expanding market in terms of percentage growth (+21.9 per cent) as a result of Emirates’ partnership with Qantas, followed by North America (+19.1 per cent) and Asia (+13.9 per cent).
India remained the top destination country (751,390 passengers) during the month, followed by Saudi Arabia (518,555) and the UK (460,529). London emerged as Dubai International’s busiest city destination, ahead of Doha, Jeddah and Riyadh.
As previously reported, the runway works that begin next month will see Emirates airline reduce flights to over 40 destinations, and change timings on some of its flights. It is expecting to see a AED1 billion (US $272.3 million) dent in revenues.
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