Dubai International surpasses 5 m passenger mark in July

Dubai International began the second half of 2012 on a strong note by surpassing the five million passenger mark in July for the first time in its history. The previous high for monthly traffic at Dubai International was 4.85 million passengers recorded in January this year.
According to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports, Dubai International handled a total of 5,006,155 passengers in July compared to 4,724,109 in July 2011, a year on year increase of 6 percent. Year to date traffic reached 32,937,794 up 12.4 percent over the 29,291,927 recorded in the corresponding period last year.
The largest regional traffic growth in July in terms of total passenger numbers was recorded on routes to and from Western Europe (+106,926), Africa (+41,990), the Indian subcontinent (+41,706), and Asia (+40,840). Regions with the highest percentage growth included South America (82.6 percent), Russia and CIS (38.6 percent), and Australasia (16.4 percent). The impact of traffic fluctuations during Ramadan were felt on traffic from AGCC (+0.1 percent) and Middle Eastern (-9.2 percent) routes.
During July, Dubai International handled aircraft movements totaling 27,829, up 2.4 percent from 27,166 recorded during July 2011. Year to date (July) aircraft movements stood at 198,078 up 6.2 percent from 186,538 posted during the corresponding period in 2011.
In terms of cargo volumes Dubai International surged 6.2 percent in July to 204,510 tons of air freight compared to 192,538 tones recorded during the same period in 2011.
"This is yet another record for Dubai International and one that we had anticipated based on the growth trends in the first half of the year.
Since 2009 average monthly traffic at Dubai International has skyrocketed from just under 3.5 million in 2009 to over 4.7 million in 2012. This clearly signals our emergence as a leading global hub," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.