Busiest six months ever for Dubai International Airport

Surging passenger flows to and from Saudi Arabia, the US, Qatar and Australia helped lift Dubai International Airport to its busiest first half year in its history.

Surging passenger flows to and from Saudi Arabia, the US, Qatar and Australia helped lift Dubai International Airport to its busiest first half year in history.

A total of 27.9 million passengers passed through its three terminals between January and June, 13.7 per cent more than the previous year period, according to the traffic report released by airport operator Dubai Airports yesterday.

"Our record first half had some interesting story lines, highlighted by the launch of 12 new routes, the addition of four new airlines and a surge in traffic on routes to Saudi Arabia, USA, Qatar and Australia," said Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports.

India, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Pakistan and the US were the five countries with the greatest passenger volumes during the period.

The results mean Dubai International is on course to meet its target of 56.5 million passengers this year, bringing the airport close to its annual operational capacity of 60m passengers.

"The addition of Concourse 3 during the first quarter of 2013 is well timed to boost our capacity to 75 million," said Mr Griffiths.

Air cargo volume rises did not keep pace with passenger volumes, however. Air cargo volumes rose to 1.08m tonnes during the first six months, rising 2.2 per cent over the same period of last year.