Dubai International Airport passenger numbers rise in 12 months to May
Dubai International Airport passenger traffic for the 12 months to the end of May totalled 88,216,118, up 2.6 per cent compared to 85,974,096 recorded during the corresponding period in 2016-17, according to the operator Dubai Airports.
The airport welcomed a total of 36,943,613 passengers in the first five months of this year compared to 36,969,594 in the same period last year, a marginal contraction of 0.1 per cent, largely because of the impact of Ramadan, which fell in May this year.
In May, The National reported that the world’s busiest hub by international traffic expects growth to accelerate in 2019, propelled by a partnership between its home airlines Emirates and flydubai.
“Growth will be slightly more modest than it has been in the past but in 2019 we expect the traffic to pick up again,” Paul Griffiths, chief executive of the operator Dubai Airports, told
The National. “It will be very, very substantial growth, certainly ahead of the norm of airports our size.”
This year, Dubai airport is on track to reach around 90 million passengers, he said.
Dubai Airports said passenger numbers for May totalled 6,589,264 compared to 6,850,052 recorded a year earlier, a contraction of 3.8 per cent owing to lower volumes traditionally experienced during Ramadan. Average monthly traffic volumes, however, have remained high in 2018 at 7.4 million passengers, it said.
Eastern Europe was the fastest-growing region in May with 19.4 per cent growth.
The growth in passenger demand for carriers operating in the wider Middle East, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, slowed to 0.8 per cent year-on-year in May after recording a 2.9 per cent annual expansion in April, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said.
The upward trend in passenger traffic has slowed compared to last year, the aviation agency said on Thursday. The capacity climbed 3.7 per cent, while load factor – a measure of capacity utilisation by the airlines – fell 1.9 percentage points to 67.5 per cent, it said.
Globally, traffic results for May showed a 6.1 per cent rise in demand from a year earlier, a slight pick-up from 6 per cent year-on-year growth reported for April. Capacity climbed 5.9 per cent and load factor rose 0.1 percentage point to 80.1 per cent.
“May was another solid month in terms of [global] demand growth,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and chief executive. “As had been expected, we saw some moderation, as rising airline costs are reducing the stimulus from lower airfares.”
In particular, he said, jet fuel prices are expected to be up nearly 26 per cent this year compared to 2017.
“Nevertheless, the record load factor for the month signifies that demand for air connectivity is strong,” he added.
In terms of freight, DXB handled a total of 221,363 tonnes of cargo during May, down 4.9 per cent compared to 232,884 tonnes a year earlier. Year-todate cargo at the end of May was 1,053,549 tonnes compared to 1,087,243, down 3.1 per cent.
Iata said Middle East carriers’ volumes measured in freight tonne kilometres, grew 2.4 per cent in May compared with 6.9 per cent the previous month. Capacity increased 3.3 per cent.
Globally, demand rose 4.2 per cent in May, compared to a year earlier. This was slightly down from the 5.2 per cent growth in annual demand in April, Iata said.