DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai Worldwide Airport, the world’s busiest for worldwide journey, introduced Tuesday it served 41.6 million passengers within the first half of this 12 months — exceeding figures for a similar interval in 2019 as vacationers return to the air after the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic.
The airport, dwelling to the long-haul provider Emirates in skyscraper-studded Dubai, lengthy has served as a barometer for the aviation trade worldwide. The brand new figures on the airport referred to as DXB mirror figures provided by the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation that site visitors worldwide is at 94% of pre-COVID ranges.
“As we recuperate with our (half-year) site visitors surpassing pre-pandemic ranges, we proceed to stay dedicated to making sure each visitor who travels by our airport leaves with a smile,” Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, mentioned in an announcement asserting the figures.
The 41.6 million passengers is up some 50% from the 27.9 million recorded the identical time final 12 months, as airlines now have extra planes and routes operating once more.
Passenger site visitors this 12 months largely has been pushed by the airport’s normal journey locations — India, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Pakistan. Russia as properly has been a significant market as Dubai stays one of many few locations nonetheless open to Russians amid Moscow’s struggle on Ukraine.
Dubai was among the many first cities to reopen to vacationers within the pandemic. That helped increase the city-state’s tourism trade, as points of interest just like the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest constructing, and the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab luxurious lodge draw each guests and transit passengers out of airport lounges.
Dubai surpassed its pre-pandemic, half-year vacationer figures this 12 months with 8.55 million worldwide guests. Dubai lodges noticed a median occupancy of 78% throughout that interval — rating amongst among the world’s high locations.
Emirates additionally noticed its most worthwhile 12 months ever in 2022, incomes $2.9 billion as passengers returned to its long-haul Boeing 777s and its double-decker Airbus A380s.
Griffiths mentioned given the demand, the airport has bumped its projected passenger numbers for 2023 to 85 million, simply shy of 2019’s annual site visitors of 86.3 million passengers. The airport noticed 89.1 million passengers in 2018 — its busiest-ever 12 months earlier than the pandemic. DXB had 66 million passengers cross by it in 2022.
“We began the second half with sturdy demand in July, and with the continuing seasonal peak coinciding with the reopening of faculties in August, we’re getting ready for an exceptionally busy remainder of the 12 months,” Griffiths mentioned.
Dubai Worldwide Airport now serves 257 locations throughout 104 nations.