Passenger traffic at Dubai International, the world’s fourth busiest hub for international passengers and freight, crossed the 4.5 million mark for the fourth consecutive month, according to the April traffic report issued by Dubai Airports today.

Passenger traffic in April reached 4,566,673, an increase of 7.8 per cent compared to 4,237,548 during the corresponding month in 2011.

The strong performance during the first four months of this year has propelled the year to date traffic to 18,828,279, a surge of 13.9 per cent over the 16,525,376 recorded during the same period last year, it said.

The GCC continued to top the list of regions with the largest increase in total passenger numbers (+72,136 passengers), followed by Africa (+59,063) and Western Europe (+49,113). Routes to Russia and CIS also registered robust growth in April (+46,375). Contraction on Middle Eastern routes continued in April (-22,270 passengers) owing to continuing instability in certain parts of the region.

South America has remained the strongest market in terms of percentage passenger growth (+92.7 per cent) as a result of recently introduced Emirates services to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, followed by Russia and CIS (+35.5 per cent), and Australasia (+22 per cent).

Dubai International recorded a total of 28,503 aircraft movements in April, up 7.2 per cent compared to 26,597 in April 2011. The year to date movements increased 7.7 per cent to 114,517, compared to 106,302 recorded during the first four months in 2011.

Dubai International handled 186,385 tonnes of cargo in April 2012 compared to 179,397 tonnes in April 2011, up 3.9 per cent and in line with forecasts for moderately improved volumes during 2012. Year to date cargo volumes reached 703,826 tonnes, an increase of 1.8 per cent compared to 688,537 tonnes during the corresponding period in 2011.

“Crossing the 4.5 million mark in terms of monthly passenger numbers is becoming the norm at Dubai International and we could break the 5 million passenger ceiling during the summer peak,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

“Ensuring that the millions of passengers that use the facility every month pass through smoothly and efficiently is one of the top priorities for Dubai Airports. To cope with the seasonal rush we will launch the annual Summer Mission programme, which will see the deployment of over 500 May I Help You staff across the airport. That, along with the expansion of our transfer facility in Terminal 3 and the opening of an express check-in facility for flydubai customers in Terminal 2, will help accommodate the record passenger flows.” - TradeArabia News Service