Dubai International Airport welcomed a record 6 million passengers during the month of November last year, registering a year-on-year increase of 8.1 per cent compared to 5.5 million passengers recorded for the same period in 2014, a report said.

According to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports, the year to date traffic in November totalled 70,961,598 passengers compared with 63,977,063 recorded during the same period in 2014, a healthy increase of 10.9 per cent.

In November, the Indian subcontinent recorded the largest increase in total passenger numbers (over 160,647 passengers) spurred by growth in traffic and launch of new flights including SpiceJet’s services to Kozhikode and Amritsar; followed by the GCC (over 129,210), Western Europe (over 65,198), and North America (over 58,314).

The strongest markets in terms of percentage growth were Eastern Europe (over 29.7 per cent), North America (over 27.7 per cent) driven mainly by Emirates’ expanding network to destinations in the US, and the GCC (16.9 per cent) with Muscat, Doha and Jeddah topping the destinations with highest growth during the month.

Aircraft movements in November increased by 4.2 per cent to 33,787 from 32,424 recorded during the same month in 2014. The year to date movements totalled 371,103 in November 2015, a robust growth of 13.8 per cent from 323,203 recorded during the first 11 months of 2014.

Dubai International handled 218,323 tonnes of cargo in November, an increase of 3.8 per cent compared to 210,251 tonnes recorded during the same month in 2014. The year to date freight volumes reached 2,287,167 tonnes compared to 2,217,135 tonnes handled during the corresponding period in 2014, an increase of 3.2 per cent.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said, “We are very pleased with the growth in passenger traffic at Dubai International in 2015 during which the airport registered an average monthly traffic of nearly 6.5 million customers. We are sure the seasonal peaks that we experienced in December will help round off the year with an impressive annual figure.” – TradeArabia News Service