Dubai International passenger numbers surge 7.3% in October

Economic uncertainty and flagging consumer confidence in Europe and the United States did little to curtail the continued growth in passenger numbers at Dubai International as traffic surged 7.3 per cent to 4.3 million passengers in October, according to the latest traffic statistics released on Monday by Dubai Airports. October passenger numbers rose to 4,307,817, up 7.3 per cent compared to 4,013,127 recorded during the same month in 2010. Through the first ten months of the year passenger numbers totalled 41,855,561, an increase of 7.7 per cent over the corresponding period in 2010. The AGCC recorded the largest increase in total passenger numbers* in October (+154,893), followed by the Indian subcontinent (+79,657) and Western Europe (+40,469). Traffic to and from Russia and the CIS (+34,017) rose due to flydubai's expansion into that region while North American passenger increases (+17,963) were driven by increased frequency, capacity and demand on Emirates flights to Los Angeles, Houston and New York. The contraction in traffic on Middle Eastern routes continued in October (-25,141 passengers) due to ongoing political unrest in some markets. The strongest markets in terms of percentage passenger growth were Russia & CIS (+33.9 per cent), the AGCC (+29..9 per cent) as a result of Saudi Arabian traffic growth, North America (+16.1 per cent) and South America (+15.4 per cent). Aircraft movements for October reached 28,463 up 7.2 per cent from 26,558 recorded during the same month in 2010. Although passenger numbers showed no ill-effects, global economic conditions continue to put a drag on air freight traffic growth. Dubai International handled 197,841 tonnes of freight in October, a contraction of 2.5 per cent compared to 202,984 tonnes recorded during the same period in 2010. Year to date freight volumes reached 1,808,239 tonnes, down 1.8 per cent compared to 1,841,422 tonnes handled during the corresponding period last year. "New routes, additional frequencies and extra capacity continue to drive passenger traffic growth at the Dubai hub," said Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths. "And we continue to break records. In October, Dubai International achieved yet another milestone by passing the 50 million passenger mark over a 12 month period for the first time." Dubai International is the fourth busiest airport worldwide for international passenger and cargo traffic.