AVIATION Ramadan timing helps Dubai airport passenger traffic to rebound in June

Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest by international travel, rebounded 11.7 per cent in June following a consecutive two-month decline because of this year’s Ramadan timing.

The hub handled 6.8 million passengers in June versus 6.08 million in the same month a year ago, its operator Dubai Airports said yesterday.

The steep recovery in traffic was mainly because Ramadan, a month when regional travel slows down, fell in May and June this year but coincided in June last year, Dubai Airports said.

Passenger traffic flows slowed at Dubai airport last year after years of rapid double-digit growth. In May, the number of passengers fell by 3.8 per cent and in April by 0.1 per cent.

Growth is expected to accelerate in next year, propelled by a partnership between Emirates and sister low-cost carrier flydubai, Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths told The

National earlier this year.

In the first six months of 2018, the airport handled 43.7 million passengers, an increase of 1.6 per cent on a year earlier although the number of flight movements were down 2 per cent to 201,784. Flight movements last month grew 6.4 per cent year-on-year to 32,805.

The number of passengers per flight during the month also grew 4.9 per cent to 213, up from 203 in June last year.

All major markets showed strong growth last month and the most popular regions were CIS countries, eastern Europe, Africa and North America. The leading countries by passenger volumes were India, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Pakistan and the US. London, Mumbai and New Delhi were the most popular cities.

The airport handled 214,612 tonnes of cargo during June, a 0.5 per cent decline compared to 215,668 tonnes a year earlier.

Cargo volumes also dropped in the first half by 2.7 per cent to 1.27 million tonnes. Most of Dubai’s air freight operations have been relocated to Dubai’s second hub Al Maktoum International Airport, which is set to expand its capacity to more than 160 million passengers a year once completed.

Dubai Airports forecasts growth of 90.3 million passengers in 2018 from 88.2 million last year for Dubai International Airport.