Dubai International Airport (DXB), one of the busiest airports in the Middle East, has secured the number one position for international passenger traffic in the world.

Passenger numbers for 2014 totalled 70,475,636, up 6.1 per cent from 66,431,533 recorded in 2013. This followed robust passenger traffic growth of 7.5 per cent in December with 6,498,573 passengers passing through the facility compared to 6,047,126 recorded in the corresponding month last year.

Aircraft movements in December rose 4 per cent to 34,136, up marginally from the 32,832 recorded during December 2013. For 2014, aircraft movements totalled 357,339 compared to 369,953 in 2013, a contraction of 3.4 per cent. This is primarily due to the temporary reduction of flights experienced during the 80 day runway refurbishment project during the summer, and the shift of freighter operators and general aviation to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) last year.

Spurred by an ongoing increase in the number of wide bodied aircraft servicing the airport, the numbers of passengers per flight increased 5.1 percent to 208.3 passengers for 2014.

The top market for growth in passenger volumes in 2014 was Western Europe (up 1,192,831 passengers) closely followed by the Indian Subcontinent (up 936,449 passengers), Asia (up 716,180) and North America (up 432,597). 

In terms of percentage growth in 2014 Eastern Europe (up 21.0 per cent) was the strongest market followed by North America (18.6 per cent), Asia (12.6 per cent), Australasia (9.2 per cent) and Western Europe (8.8 per cent).

Freight volumes at Dubai International totalled 2,367,574 tonnes in 2014 compared to 2,443,624 tonnes in 2013, a decrease of 3.4 per cent again due to the shift of freighter operators to DWC. December’s freight volumes dropped by 7 per cent with 202,836 tonnes passing through the facility compared to 218,138 tonnes recorded during the same month last year.

“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,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

“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 focussed on rolling out technology, new food and beverage concepts and service initiatives that further enhance the passenger experience,” he said - TradeArabia News Service