Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport reached 36.9 million during the first five months of 2018, a marginal contraction of 0.1 per cent compared to the same period last year, new data showed.

DXB welcomed a total of 36,943,613 passengers between january and May compared to 36,969,594 passengers recorded during the first five months of 2017. The dip is largely due to the impact of Ramadan which fell in May this year.

Passenger traffic for the past 12 months totalled 88,216,118, up 2.6 per cent compared to 85,974,096 recorded during the corresponding period in 2016-2017.

In May, passenger numbers totalled 6,589,264 compared to 6,850,052 recorded during the same month last year, a contraction of 3.8 per cent due to lower volumes traditionally experienced during Ramadan. Average monthly traffic volumes have however remained high in 2018 at 7.4 million passengers.

Eastern Europe was the fastest growing region in May with 19.4 per cent growth, thanks to robust growth on routes to Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania and the launch of flydubai’s new services to Krakow in Poland. CIS was the second fastest region (11.3 per cent), followed by Africa (9.9 per cent) – where Nigeria and Egypt recorded strong growth during the month.

India was the top destination country with a total of 1,041,258 passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (495,242), and the UK (429,893), while the top cities for passenger volumes were London with 262,913 passengers, Mumbai (213,056) and Jeddah (179,756).

Flight movements during the month under review totalled 32,620 compared to 34,544 during May 2017, a drop of 5.6 per cent. The hub’s efficiency increased as the average number of passengers per flight was 209 during May, up 2 per cent compared to 205 during the same month last year. Year to date flight numbers reached 168,979, down 3.5 per cent compared to 175,157 flight movements recorded during the first five months last year.

DXB handled a total of 221,363 tonnes of cargo during May, down 4.9 per cent compared to 232,884 tonnes during the same month last year. Year to date cargo at the end of May totalled 1,053,549 compared to 1,087,243 tonnes, down 3.1 per cent. - TradeArabia News Service