Dubai airport traffic grows 8.1% in November

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest by international traffic, experienced an 8.1 per cent increase in passenger numbers in November, its operator said on Monday.

Traffic rose to 6.01 million passengers from 5.57m a year earlier, taking the total so far in 2015 to 70.96m, up 10.9 per cent.

The largest increase in passengers came from the Indian subcontinent from where new flights were launched, while the most significant growth was driven by Eastern Europe and North America, the latter where Emirates added new destinations.

Air freight volumes rose 3.8 per cent in the month to 218,323 tonnes. Some cargo operations have moved to Al Maktoum International.

Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said the airport had an average monthly traffic of nearly 6.5m passengers.

“We are sure the seasonal peaks that we experienced in December will help round off the year with an impressive annual figure,” he said.

Dubai International overtook London’s Heathrow to become the world’s busiest airport in 2014.