Dubai:
Nearly three months of runway closures saw Dubai International slip behind London Heathrow despite 34.67 million passengers travelling through the Dubai hub in the first half of the year, according to data from the two airports.
Dubai International’s 6.2 per cent six month growth was not enough to edge out London Heathrow, where 35.06 million passengers travelled through the British airport between January and June.
Dubai International finished second behind London Heathrow in the 2013 list of the world’s busiest airports for international passenger traffic.
Dubai International had led London Heathrow in the first five months of 2014.
The 80-day consecutive runway closure that started on May 1 saw flights reduced by more than 26 per cent during May and June. For the month of June, 5.06 million passengers travelled through Dubai International, down 8 per cent on June 2013. London Heathrow handled 6.6 million passengers, up 1.1 per cent.
Last month, 22,031 aircraft landed and took off from Dubai International, down 27 per cent compared to June in the previous year. While in the first six months of the year 170,815 aircraft landed and took of from the airport, down 6.6 per cent.
The dip in numbers, however, does not come as a shock. In a statement earlier this year, Dubai Airports said that “traffic growth is expected to taper off between May and July this year”.
However, the number of passengers per flights increased by 16.1 per cent to 235, from 202 during the same period last year. Dubai Airports said the increase is due to the use of larger aircraft during the runway closure period.
Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports chief executive, stated on Thursday that the first half numbers are impressive given the capacity constraints the airport was under.
July passenger figures will also be impacted with the runway refurbishment having ended on July 20.
Dubai Airports said earlier this week that Dubai International handled 31 per cent more flights on its return to full operations on Monday July 21 than its daily average between May 1 and July 20.
