Dubai, July 2 -- Passenger numbers at Dubai International, the world's fourth busiest hub for international traffic, increased 10.4% year on year according to the monthly traffic report for May issued by airport operator Dubai Airports.
Passenger traffic reached 4,388,614 in May 2012 compared to the 3,976,633 passengers who passed through the airport during the same month in 2011. The strong performance in the first five months of the year has propelled the year to date traffic to 23,216,893, an increase of 13.2% over 20,502,009 passengers recorded during the corresponding period in 2011. The AGCC recorded the largest increase in total passenger numbers in May (+105,052 passengers), followed by Africa (+61,306), Western Europe (+57,602) and the Indian subcontinent (+55,330). In terms of percentage growth, traffic on South American routes surged 114.2%, albeit from a low base. Russia and CIS benefited from flydubai's ongoing expansion into that region with traffic increasing 43.7%. Middle East passenger traffic continues to be affected by the instability in the region with a contraction of 2.5% in May. Aircraft movements for the month totalled 28,304, an increase of 5% compared to the 26,969 movements recorded during the same period last year. The number of year to date aircraft movements reached 142,821 compared with 133,271 recorded during the corresponding period in 2011, an increase of 7.2%. In terms of cargo volumes Dubai International handled 187,638 tonnes of air freight in May, a contraction of 0.1% compared to 187,905 tonnes recorded during the same period in 2011. The year to date freight volume has reached 891,464 tonnes, up 1.4% over 879,359 tonnes for the corresponding period last year. "Dubai International has had a strong showing in terms of passenger traffic so far this year with double-digit growth recorded in four of the first five months. With forecast suggesting the growth trend to continue during the second half of the year, we are well on track to achieve the projected traffic of 56.5 million by the end of 2012," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.
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