Dubai International airport posts more growth

With a year on year 9.01% increase in passenger numbers and a 9.38% growth in freight.  The airport handled just under 34.5-million passengers and a little over 1.8m tonnes of cargo.  In comparison to around 34.3m passengers and 1.6m tonnes of freight in 2007.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports said the growth was impressive, especially considering the global economic downturn, the record high price of oil in 2008 and the impact of the overall situation on civil aviation and related sectors worldwide.

Sheikh Ahmed said, “Dubai International’s growth in 2008 is a clear sign of the UAE’s sturdy economy and Dubai’s significance, not only to local and regional growth but to travel, tourism and business globally. The momentum of this growth will have a positive influence on ongoing situations as well as the overall projected growth for Dubai Airports for 2009.”

Statistics show that August was the busiest month for passengers with 3.36m using the airport, while February recorded the highest growth rate at 18.83%.  On average 100,000 passengers used Dubai International every day in 2008.
September was the busiest month for the cargo with 163,836 tonnes of cargo, up 12.70% over September 2007.

“Anticipating record traffic during the peak season, we launched a summer rush campaign to ease the flow of passengers through our terminals. Some 300 volunteers were deployed around the airport, from parking areas all the way to the concourse, to help and guide passengers,” explained Paul Griffiths, chief executive. “Not only was the airport handling more passengers than ever before, but our teams worked very closely with police, immigration, customs and our airline customers to achieve much higher levels of performance.  On-time departures improved by 20% over the previous year, whilst there were major improvements in the speed and efficiency of connections, plus many other improvements in customer service overall.

“The summer rush campaign’s success can be gauged from the fact that between June and September, a record 12 million travellers passed through Dubai International without one incident of congestion or delay,” Griffiths said.

Dubai's Terminal 3