São Paulo – The three main airports in the Emirates should end 2012 with a record volume of passengers: 80 million, according to a report disclosed on Thursday (22) by consultancy Centre of Aviation (Capa), which is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
According to the study, the airports of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, the three main airports in the Emirates, received 59 million passengers up to September this year. More moderate projections for the airports show that they should receive 77.5 million tourists in 2012. "If their current growth rates continue over the last quarter of the year, combined traffic may just reach 80 million,” says the study.
If this forecast is confirmed, in 2012 these three airports will have received four times more passengers than in 2002 and double the total recorded in 2006. According to the study, the passenger and aircraft flow has been growing at the airports as airlines in the region are growing and because the heated local market attracts foreign companies.
Despite the growth of the airports of the Emirates, London is still the world’s main centre for passenger distribution. Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and London City airports received 133 million passengers in 2011. New York received 105.5 million passengers last year, with growth of 1.5% since 2009.
Dubai, the greatest
According to the study, Dubai airport receives the largest number of passengers among the main airports in the Emirates and may become the largest in the world. Up to September, 42.6 million passengers crossed its terminals, growth of 13.4% over the same period in 2011. Capa forecasts that the airport in Dubai is en route to reach the target of ending the year having received 56.5 million passengers, and that this figure is getting “uncomfortably” close to the airport’s 60-million maximum passenger capacity.
The capacity, however, should increase in early 2013 with the opening of a space dedicated to Emirates flights. The company is building an arrival and departure area exclusively to receive its fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft, capable of transporting over 400 passengers.
Although Dubai’s airport is the busiest, the one in Abu Dhabi has been growing fast. This year, 10.9 million people have already crossed the airport, resulting in its receiving, for the first time, over one million passengers a month.
The consultancy forecasts that the airport should record greater growth in 2013 as the airline of Abu Dhabi, Etihad Airways, has announced that it will expand its service grid in 2013 and fly to destinations like Addis Ababa, São Paulo, Ho Chi Min and Washington. Sharjah airport is coming close to its limit as it has been receiving a significant passenger volume from Southeast Asia, especially India.
*Translated by Mark Ament
