In the first half of the year, 41.6 million people travelled through DXB…

Earlier this year, it was announced that Dubai International (DXB) ranked first globally for the 9th consecutive year as the world’s busiest airport by international traffic in 2022. It was a great milestone, and now DXB has another reason to celebrate as it has announced that passenger traffic for the first half of the year has surpassed 2019 levels.

According to a statistic released by Dubai Airports, the international hub welcomed 41.6 million guests in H1 – just over 100 per cent compared to the traffic received during the first six months of 2019.

Passenger traffic surged by 42.7 per cent year on year to reach 20.3 million during the second quarter. May was its busiest month with around 6.9 million guests. The H1 traffic in 2022 totalled up to 27.9 million, with this year seeing traffic rise by 49.1 per cent.

DXB handled a total of 201,800 flights in the first half of 2023 – numbers which are by 13 per cent compared to the same period in H1 2019.

‘As we recover with our H1 traffic surpassing pre-pandemic levels, we continue to remain committed to ensuring every guest who travels through our airport leaves with a smile,’ said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

Outlook for H2 2023

dubai airport

With schools restarting at the end of August, Dubai Airport expects 3.3 million passengers. According to Dubai Airport, August 26 and 27, 2023 are expected to be the busiest days with daily traffic crossing half a million.

But it doesn’t end there. Dubai Airports is also expecting the same record-breaking numbers during the winter season.

Paul Griffiths stated that DXB is preparing for an exceptionally busy rest of the year. He added, ‘We’ve readjusted our forecast for the year from 83.6 million guests to 85 million, just 1.6 per cent shy of DXB’s annual traffic in 2019.’

Where is the passenger traffic coming from?

According to DXB, India continues to be a DXB top destination country in terms of traffic and has recorded six million guests in the first half of 2023. Saudi Arabia follows with 3.1 million guests, followed by the United Kingdom with 2.8 million guests.

Other leading destinations include Pakistan (2 million guests), the United States (1.8 million guests), Russia (1.3 million guests) and Germany (1.2 million guests).

DXB is connected to 257 destinations across 104 countries, through more than 91 international airlines.

Images: DXB