Dubai – Dubai International Airport handled 36.9 million passengers from January to May, down 0.1% year-on-year, operator Dubai Airports said today. The slight drop was a consequence of Ramadan, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported this Thursday (5).
This year, Ramadan ran from mid-May to mid-June. Since the Islamic calendar is lunar, it does not match the Gregorian calendar. Ramadan month begins ten days earlier each year as per the Western calendar. During this month, Muslims fast from sunup to sundown and work hours are reduced, hence the reduction in tourism and business trips.
In the 12 months through May, Dubai Airport handled 88.2 million passengers, up 2.6% from the preceding 12 months. In May alone, the airport handled 6.6 million passengers, down 3.8% from May 2017.
However, traffic increased significantly to a few destinations in May, including some Eastern European countries like Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania. Carrier Flydubai also began flying to Krakow, Poland. Another highlight was the Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet Union) and Africa, especially Nigeria and Egypt.
In absolute terms, WAM said India was the leading destination, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. London was the top destination city, with Mumbai, India and and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia trailing it.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
