Traffic growth up 6.1% at DIA

The recent report by Dubai Airports for airport performance in July stated that passenger traffic at Dubai International rose 6.1%. Passenger traffic in July reached 5,310,361, an increase compared to 5,006,155 during the corresponding month in 2012. Year to date traffic is up 15.3% to 37,972,464 compared to 32,937,794 during the first seven months of 2012. Aircraft movements totalled 28,462 during July, an increase of 2.3% from the 27,829 recorded during the same period last year. Passengers per aircraft movement in July came in at 201. All regions recorded positive growth this month with the exception of AGCC (-8.0%) and the Middle East (-12.6%) both of which saw traffic dip due to the year-on-year shift in the timing of Ramadan. Among the strongest markets in terms of percentage* passenger growth were Eastern Europe (+58.7%), driven by flydubai expansion to multiple destinations and Emirates’ new service to Warsaw. Passenger traffic to and from Australasia rose 49.4% driven by Emirates expansion and Qantas’ new operation connecting Australia and London through Dubai. On a country level, Australia (+53.6%), the U.K. (+22.1%), Sri Lanka (+20.6%) and France (+17.5 %) recorded largest increases. In terms of overall passenger numbers, Western Europe traffic took over as the top market with a +13.4% during the month. The Indian subcontinent, which fell to second spot, continued to show positive growth (+6.1%). Source: Travel Daily