Airport operator Dubai Airports has today (January 27) released its year-end traffic report detailing Dubai International Airport as the busiest in the world in terms of international passenger numbers. The airport saw 70,475,636 travelers pass through its terminals in 2014, a 6.1% increase on the 66,431,533 recorded in 2013. This included passenger traffic growth of 7.5% in December 2014 with 6,498,573 passengers using the airport.
HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports, said, “The shared goal is to make Dubai a global center of aviation and we are nearing that goal thanks to an open skies policy, a friendly business environment, Dubai’s growing attractiveness as a center for trade, commerce and tourism, growing network connectivity due to the rapid expansion of Emirates and flydubai and timely investment in aviation infrastructure.”
In terms of passenger volumes at the airport, the top market for growth in 2014 was Western Europe with an additional 1,192,831 travelers. The Indian subcontinent and Asia followed, with 936,449 and 716,180 passengers respectively. Full year aircraft movements totaled 357,339 flights, a contraction of 3.4% when compared to the 369,953 in 2013. This was primarily due to the temporary reduction of flights experienced during the 80-day runway refurbishment project during the summer.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said, “Much like 2014, 2015 promises to be another eventful year featuring more record passenger numbers and facility upgrades including the opening of Concourse D which will boost Dubai International’s capacity to 90 million. Today we are also releasing our projections for 2015 traffic at Dubai International, which forecast 79 million passengers. We will have more flights connecting more people to more destinations. And we will be fully focused on rolling out technology, new F&B concepts and service initiatives that further enhance the passenger experience.”
