Dubai International continued to buck international trends registering double-digit year-on-year increases for both passenger and freight traffic during October.
Passenger traffic rose 11.7 per cent in October, marking the fifth consecutive month of double-digit growth.
The airport handled a total of 3,496,366 passengers in October 2009 compared to 3,130,333 passengers during the same month last year, raising the year to date passenger throughput to 33,565,105 passengers – up 8.3 per cent over 30,982,665 passengers recorded during the first ten months in 2008.
After nine months of modest cargo growth, Dubai International registered a double-digit increase in freight traffic for the first time in 13 months as volumes surged 17.7% during October due largely to traffic generated by meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions that took place in Dubai last month.
Dubai Airports Cargo handled 185,867 tonnes of freight in October compared to 157,968 tonnes during the same month last year.
The last double-digit increase was recorded in September 2008, when freight grew by 12.7 per cent. Year to date cargo volumes reached 1,552,748 tonnes compared to 1,519,327 tonnes during the same period in 2008, up 2.2 per cent.
Dubai Airports’ traffic forecast for Dubai International and Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International projects 13.6 per cent growth in international passenger traffic in 2010 with total passenger traffic expected to top 46 million.
