Tuesday, February 22, 2022 – 6:31 PM
/ From Munira Al-Sumaiti / .
DUBAI, 22nd February, 2020 (WAM) — Dubai International Airport “DXB” has maintained its first position as the world’s busiest international airport for the eighth year in a row.
It received 29.1 million passengers during 2021, with annual passenger traffic exceeding the initial expectations for the number of passengers through Dubai International Airport “DXB” in 2021, with a relative increase estimated at half a million passengers as a result of the increase in air traffic during the last quarter of the year.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said that the major events witnessed in 2021 contributed to achieving a large number of important achievements in light of the exceptional circumstances imposed by the global pandemic.. He explained that the qualitative steps taken by Dubai and the aviation sector enhanced the acceleration and pace of recovery. Including hosting the largest and largest edition of the Dubai Airshow, to be the first global event and major air exhibition to be held since the beginning of the global pandemic, in addition to the return of operational capacity at Dubai International Airport “DXB” by 100 percent with the reopening of Concourse D and Concourse A in Terminal No. 1 In addition to the opening of one of the largest airport laboratories in the world to conduct nasal swab tests to detect cases of Covid-19 infection for all visitors coming to Dubai with ease and ease. world and welcome them to visit Expo 2020 Dubai.
And about the exceptional performance of Dubai International Airport “DXB”, he said that despite the challenges and difficulties faced by millions of individuals around the world, we were able to overcome obstacles by keeping pace with changes with flexibility and high speed in order to provide a safe and comfortable travel experience for travelers through Dubai International Airport “DXB.” “These amazing results were achieved thanks to the efforts made by all employees and partners and their ability to face sudden changes in travel regulations and global concerns about the high number of infections and the emergence of new mutations of the virus, so we succeeded in exceeding expectations and maintaining our position as the world’s busiest international airport.
And Griffiths noted that preliminary expectations indicate that the annual passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport “DXB” will reach 55.1 million passengers by the end of 2022, explaining that it is possible to make a qualitative leap and significantly exceed this number if the positive factors that we are currently witnessing continue. .
For his part, Majid Al Joker, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Airports, said in an exclusive statement to Emirates News Agency that Dubai International Airport “DXB” during 2021 received about 29 million, 110 thousand and 609 passengers, with an annual growth rate of 12.7 percent, noting that the numbers are driven by strong growth. During the last three months of the same year, she indicated that the airport recorded 11,794,046 passengers, an increase of 77 percent over the third quarter, thus constituting the busiest period since the first quarter of 2020 and the first time since the beginning of the epidemic that passenger traffic exceeded the quarterly airport at the airport. Dubai International “DXB” index of 10 million passengers, so that the month of December is the busiest month of the year, with a total of 4.5 million passengers.
And he touched on the effects of the Expo 2020 on passenger traffic, given that the event coincided with measures to ease travel restrictions globally, and said that it formed a catalyst for an increase in passenger traffic by up to two million passengers from last October to April.
He pointed out that the number of passengers increased during the last quarter of last year by 40%, which reflects an increase of 53% compared to the same period in 2019, and the number of direct passengers constituted 71% of the total number of passengers in the last quarter of 2021, registering a significant increase over 2019 .
He pointed out that the number of flights at Dubai International Airport “DXB” amounted to about 77,671 flights during the last quarter of 2021, bringing the number of annual flights to 233,375 flights, an annual increase of 28.1 percent, while the average number of passengers per flight was 154. Passengers registered an annual decrease of 18.9 percent.
Al-Joker added that air freight witnessed a strong performance throughout the year, recording 614,834 tons of goods in the last quarter, with a growth rate of 7.5 percent, which raised the annual freight volume in 2021 by 20 percent, bringing the total to 2,319,185 tons.
Wam / Munira Al-Sumaiti / Awad Al-Mukhtar / Assem Al-Khouli