Airports in UAE see record traffic

Record numbers of air passengers and cargo touched down in or took off from Abu Dhabi and Dubai last month. Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) announced 1,008,228 arrivals and departures last month, breaking the million mark for the first time. The airports operator, which owns Abu Dhabi International Airport and Al Ain International Airport, saw an increase of 9.2 per cent in passenger numbers compared with the same month last year.

Ahmed al Haddabi, the senior vice president of airports operations at ADAC, said: "The traffic growth is a reflection of the interest Abu Dhabi is attracting from international markets and its strength as a connecting hub between the East and the West." He said the two largest increases in traffic were on routes that connect the UAE with the US and the Philippines. Cargo freight numbers were also up last month, increasing 25.5 per cent to 197,845 tons in Dubai and 12.3 per cent, to 36,755 tons, in Abu Dhabi.

The top five city destinations for Abu Dhabi's airport traffic last month were London, Bangkok, Cairo, Manila and Doha, together accounting for almost a fifth of all passengers. Dubai Airports saw a record 4.31 million passengers last month across the three airports it operates, including Dubai International Airport, an increase of 14.3 per cent, the company said. Kareem Murad, an aviation analyst at Shuaa Capital. "You're seeing the freight business increasing, but don't forget that a lot of the industry experienced a drop in trade last year."

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