Dubai International Airport (DXB) saw a growth in passengers using the airport between April and June this year, taking the total number of passengers travelling through DXB in the first half of 2022 to 27.9 million, which is just under 5% short of the total number of passengers that travelled through DXB throughout the whole of 2021.
This growth in passenger numbers was achieved despite a significant reduction in capacity from the 45-day closure of the northern runway at DXB in May to June.
The total number of passengers using DXB in the first half of the year was 27,884,888, an increase of 161.9% compared to the first half of 2021. The number of passengers is 67.5% of DXB’s passenger traffic over the same period in 2019, before the pandemic adversely affected international travel.
The top five destinations by passenger numbers were India, with 4 million passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia with 2 million, United Kingdom wth 1.9 million passengers, Pakistan with 1.7 million and then the USA with 1.4 million.
The most popular cities for passengers were London (1.3 million passengers) , Riyadh (910,000 passengers), and then Mumbai (726,000 passengers).
The growth in passenger numbers was reflected by the total number of flights handled during the first six months of 2022, which reached 154,993, an increase of 55.9% compared to the first half of 2021, and 87% of the flight movements at DXB during the first half of 2019.
Speaking on the announcements of the first half of the year passenger numbers, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said, “DXB’s recovery from the impact of the global pandemic has been spectacular, and that position has been strengthened during 2022, particularly during the second quarter. Not only has Dubai Airports been successful in managing the recovery, but customer service quality has been maintained throughout. We knew at the start of the pandemic that the dramatic downturn would be followed by an equally dramatic upturn, so we were well prepared for it and using all of the business data at our disposal were able to predict the start of the recovery. We worked with our service partners across the airport community to be ready and prepared to deliver the consistently smooth and easy experience that our passengers have come to expect at DXB.”
The forecast for the full year has been readjusted to 62.4 million passengers, a reflection of the strong first half and a projected stronger second half, where average monthly traffic is expected to reach 5.6 million passengers.
