Abu Dhabi International Airport has reported an impressive 18 per cent growth in passenger traffic over the first three quarters of the year, with a total of 17,473,063 passengers.

According to figures released by the airport, the top ten busiest routes for the first nine months of 2015 included the UK, the US, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Qatar, Thailand and Germany. Total aircraft traffic was also up 14.3 per cent in the first three quarters of the year, in which AUH successfully facilitated 129,703 aircraft movements.

Eng Ahmad Al Haddabi, chief operations officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said: “2015 has been a big growth year for us. September was another very busy month and the third consecutive month in which we welcomed over two million passengers. Increased global connectivity continues to be an important contributor to our overall success, and we are seeing a dramatic boost in demand across the vast majority of destinations served from AUH.”

Year-to-date growth on specific routes included a 44 per cent increase in passengers travelling between Abu Dhabi and the US, a 27.3 per cent surge in traffic to and from Australia, and 24.8 per cent and 17.2 per cent rise on flights between the UK and Germany respectively.

The airport moved 621,191 metric tons of cargo during the first nine months of the year, with overall cargo traffic up 7.2 per cent. – TradeArabia News Service