Dubai International Airport saw a record 44.9 million travelers pass through its terminals in the first half of this year, putting the world’s busiest airport for international travel back on track to beat its all-time record, as aviation booms after the coronavirus pandemic, Report informs referring to AP.
The results released on Wednesday follow a record-breaking annual profit for the long-haul carrier Emirates that calls the airport — known as DXB — its home. The results come as Dubai plans to move operations to a nearly $35 billion new airfield in the next decade.
Meanwhile, a real-estate boom and its highest-ever tourism numbers have made the city-state in the United Arab Emirates not just a layover, but also a destination for even more travelers.
“Before the pandemic, 60% of people coming through the airport were actually transiting to other cities and countries. We’ve now got 60% coming to the city and 40% in transit,” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths told The Associated Press. “That is obviously very good because it means that traffic to the city is very dynamic and buoyant,” he added.
The airport had 89.1 million passengers in 2018, its busiest-ever year before the pandemic. Sixty-six million passengers passed through in 2022 and 86.9 million passengers in 2023.