Dubai has 8.37 million reasons to celebrate after that number of customers passed through the world’s #1 international airport Dubai International (DXB) in August, setting a new global standard and surpassing the airport’s former record of 8.23 million set in August 2017.
August marks the second consecutive month that DXB has crossed the eight million customer mark, setting Dubai Airports up for a strong third quarter. DXB’s average monthly traffic this year is 7.5 million. That’s 1.2 million more than its closest rival London Heathrow (6.29 million).
Dubai Airports’ CEO Paul Griffiths says: “It’s another milestone for Dubai Airports as we continue to break records and set the bar even higher. While the numbers speak volumes about our growth, our aim is to continue pushing the boundaries on experience and provide customers with the best possible service.
“We are making progress on that front as well with shorter queue times, world-leading F&B and retail and other touches like spas, swimming pools and trampolines that help us stand out from the crowd.”
Facts and figures
Customers served:
8,376,478 in August (+ 1.7%) which boosted DXB’s year to date numbers to 60,323,570 (+ 1.6%).
Baggage volumes:
7.2 million bags (+5.9%) passed through the airport’s sophisticated 175 km long baggage system during the month.
Queue times: Despite high volumes, queue times dropped 44%* in August thanks to Smart Gate technology that speeds customers through immigration and a new state-of-the-art operations nerve centre that leverages real-time big data into service and efficiency enhancements.
Top destinations
DXB continues to welcome people from all over the globe, leveraging its geocentric location to connect the world.
India remained DXB’s top destination country by customer volumes, with total traffic reaching 1,012,124 during the month. Saudi Arabia was second with 613,618 customers, followed by the U.K. with 603,531. Other markets of note include U.S. (306,701 customers) and China (215,211).
The top three cities were London (371,574 customers), Kuwait (272,607) and Mumbai (210,820).
The fastest growing regions were Eastern Europe up by a whopping 25.7%, the CIS up 14.8% and Africa growing 11.2%.
Flights
Flight movements during the month increased to 35,423 (+3.1%). The average number of customers per flight remained high at 243 but was down slightly (-1.6%) due to a high base.
So far this year, 272,600 flights have taken-off or landed at DXB (-0.7%).
Cargo
219,629 tonnes of airfreight moved through DXB in August (-2.3%) bringing total cargo tonnage for the year to 1,711,279 (-1.7%).