Source: www.zawya.com
Dubai: Dubai Internationals’ burgeoning passenger traffic is unlikely to force a knee-jerk reaction to fast track the move to the newly opened airport in Dubai World Central ( DWC ), analysts say.
Last week Dubai Airports released January to November 2013 passenger growth figures for Dubai International. From January to November 2013, 60,384,407 passengers arrived, departed, and transited through Dubai International compared to 53,363,589 in the same period in 2012. The 15.3 per cent increase is more than double the 7.2 per cent passenger growth forecast in Dubai Airports Strategic Plan 2020 that was released in 2011, which states that over the past 50 years passenger traffic has increased at an annual average of 15.5 per cent.
But Dubai International is not feeling the pressure. At the beginning of 2013, Dubai International opened Concourse A increasing its total capacity to 75 million passengers a year. By 2018 capacity its will increase to 90 million a year.Increasing passenger traffic is partially being driven by Eastern Europe and Australasia, which in November 2013 had 56.5 per cent and 33.4 per cent respective passenger growth. Dubai Airports attributes this to flydubai’s network of European destinations and the Qantas-Emirates partnership.
David Bentley, Principal at UK-based aviation consultancy Big Pond Aviation, told Gulf News that while Dubai Airports may be inclined to revisit previous projections, capacity at Dubai International remains ahead of demand by 10 million passengers a year. More info
