By Shweta Jain, Senior Reporter www.gulfnews.com
Dubai: A record 5.8 million passengers passed through Dubai International airport in March, the highest since August 2012, driven mainly by the Western European routes launched by Emirates and Flydubai.
Passenger traffic at the world’s second busiest international hub surged 20.6 per cent in the month to 5,846,297 over March 2012, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Monday, adding it was the fourth consecutive month with more than five million passengers and a double-digit growth.
The airport operator further said that the strong showing boosted the year to date traffic to 16.48 million passengers up 15.6 per cent compared with 14.26 million recorded during the first three months of 2012.
According to Dubai Airports chief executive, Paul Griffiths, the growth in passenger traffic is expected to continue in the second quarter of the year owing to ongoing expansion projects at Dubai International.
“We have had a very successful first quarter highlighted by record growth and the opening of the world’s first purpose-built A380 facility,” he said in a statement adding that the airport is one of the most efficient ones in the world with 208 passengers per aircraft movement “thanks to our growing number of A380 operations which led the world in 2012 with 7,259 A380 flights to 28 destinations”.
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