São Paulo – The passenger movement in Dubai International Airport rose 7.8% in the first 11 months of this year. Between January and November, 46.28 million people crossed the airport’s terminals, according to a press statement disclosed on Thursday (29) by Dubai Airports. In November alone, the airport received 4.4 million passengers, 8.9% more than in the same month in 2010.
According to the International Relations and Communications Vice President at Dubai Airports, Jamal Al Hai, the airport’s performance was “satisfactory” in 2011. “Considering that we have had average monthly traffic of 4.2 million passengers in the first eleven months of 2011, we are well on track to surpass the historical figure of 50 million in annual traffic this year,” he said. The capacity of Dubai airport is for up to 60 million passengers a year.
Up to November, the airport registered 296,799 flight movements, 6% more than in the first 11 months of 2010. In November 2011, the growth was 8.5% over the same month in the previous year. Cargo transport, however, suffered a small reduction in 2011. From January to November, the cargo throughput at the airport was 1.99 million tonnes, 1.7% less in the same period in the previous year.
Although the volume of passengers on international routes in the Middle East dropped in November, it was the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that had the largest number of travellers that month. According to Dubai Airports, there was growth of 134,400 passengers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman on international flights. In total, the Middle East had 17,500 less passengers on these flights.
India added 77,300 people to the routes, followed by Russia and the Community of Independent States (69,786) and the countries of Eastern Europe (48,830). Al Hai stated that the volume of people travelling through the airport in 2011 “will demand […] greater focus on managing [airport] growth”.
*Translated by Mark Ament
