Dubai International Airport overhaul sees passenger rate rise

Dubai International Airport is seeing the results of an overhaul completed last year as the airport welcomed  nearly 6 million passengers in the month of June alone.

That puts June’s numbers up by 16.7 percent over the same month in 2014, with a 10.4 percent growth rate in passenger traffic over the year-to-date.

The airport’s operators, Dubai Airports, is attributing the surge in traffic during June to the runway refurbishment project between May and July last year. During that time, the airport operated with just one runway.

The drop in the number of passengers countered Dubai International’s increase in traffic during Ramadan, which fell in June this year.

This June, Dubai International recorded more than 32,000 total aircraft movements, nearly a 46 percent growth over last June’s 22,000 while the airport was operating on a single runway.

So far this year, Dubai International has seen nearly 200,000 individual aircraft movements, which is a 16.9 percent year-over-year growth when compared to last year’s numbers.

Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, said the seasonal travel rush hit its first high near the end of June, and the airport was ready with its annual summer campaign and additional resources. That, he said, offered passengers a seamless journey while traveling through Dubai International.

“We are very happy with the growth numbers in the first half of the year and expect the growth trend to continue throughout the rest of second half to help us reach our annual prediction of over 79 million passengers,” Griffiths said.