Dubai International has been confirmed as the world’s second busiest airport for international passenger traffic, moving ahead of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for the first time.
Coming in first place is London’s Heathrow airport.Since the start of the year, Dubai International has moved up two positions in the global rankings, which has been confirmed by the latest figures published by Airports Council International. In its latest numbers, passenger traffic at Dubai International rose 13 per cent to 10. million passengers in the first two months of this year, up from 9.4 million for the same period in 2012.
“It is extremely gratifying to see Dubai International leap up two places in the international passenger rankings in a single year. It is a clear signal that more people are choosing Dubai as their preferred hub not only for its extensive global network but the superb facilities on the ground too,” said Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths.
“Given our surging growth rate and London Heathrow’s capacity constraints we are well placed to overtake them as the world’s busiest airport for international traffic by 2015.” According to ACI rankings, Heathrow’s February figures recorded 5.6m passengers, followed by Dubai International at 4.88m; Paris with 4.77m; Hong Kong at 4.6m; Amsterdam with 4.6m.From the region, Doha was the only other airport to feature in top 30 at number 24, with 1.79m in passenger traffic.
