Dubai airport sees surge in passenger traffic
By IANSTuesday, March 23, 2010
DUBAI - Dubai witnessed an increase of more than 20 percent in the number of passengers transiting through its international airport in February.
The number of passengers at the airport in the Gulf emirate climbed 22.6 percent to 3.64 million from 2.97 million last year, while cargo volumes swelled 26.7 percent to 171,707 tonnes from 135,495 tonnes a year earlier, said a statement from Dubai Airports.
The airport has been witnessing double-digit growth in the number of passengers for the past nine months. In January, the number of passengers surged by 17 percent, the statement said.
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths described the figures as “very encouraging”.
“We expect the robust growth to continue over the coming months,” Griffiths was quoted as saying by WAM news agency.
The airport handled 40.9 million travellers in 2009, up 9.2 percent from the previous year, while cargo volumes reached 1.93 million tonnes, a rise of 5.6 percent from 2008.
The airport authority is expecting the passenger traffic to grow 13.6 percent this year to about 46 million passengers.
