Dubai Overtakes Heathrow as Busiest Airport for International Passengers
Dubai International became the busiest airport globally for international passengers in the first quarter, overtaking London's Heathrow and illustrating the growth of Emirates Airline in less than 30 years of operations.
Dubai's main hub, the home of Emirates, handled 18.36 million international passengers in the first quarter of the year, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Monday. Heathrow counted 16 million people pass through its gates during the same period.
Heathrow surpassed Dubai to grab the top spot last year for international traffic, and the pair were followed by Hong Kong and Paris, according to official figures from Airports Council International, a global trade body, which hasn't released first quarter figures yet.
Statements from all four airports show Dubai to be the busiest airport for international passengers and the fastest-growing in the first quarter, as the number of people passing through the hub increased 11.4%, compared with the same period a year earlier.
"The growth in passenger and freight traffic supports our continued investment in expanding and improving our facilities at Dubai International," said Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports.
Heathrow, which on Monday reported a 10.8% increase in first quarter revenue on flat passenger numbers of 16 million, had no immediate comment on falling into second place. Airport Chief Executive Officer Colin Matthews previously pointed to Dubai's rise to argue for capacity constrained Heathrow gaining approval for a third runway.
The growth at Dubai International has become a contentious issue for aviation executives in the U.K., where politicians have been accused of procrastinating over the development of airport infrastructure around London. By contrast, Dubai International is owned by the emirate's autocratic government that has earmarked aviation as a priority and invested in upgrading its airports to mirror the growth of Emirates.
Emirates President Tim Clark said the healthy state of the aviation industry in Dubai was down to "progressive" economic policies and infrastructure. "This conducive environment has also attracted 120-plus other airlines to operate in Dubai," Mr. Clark said. "For Emirates, this means we have to be on our toes."
About 50% of the passengers through Dubai International are transit customers as Emirates has built a strategy on using widebodied aircraft to connect passengers in Asia and Australasia with Europe and the U.S. via a stop in its home hub. The airline carried nearly 40 million passengers in its last fiscal year. It and lower-cost, shorter-haul carrier flydubai, which is also based at Dubai International and equally fast growing, helped add 28 new destinations to the airport last year.
Having started operations in 1985, Emirates now serves 142 destinations in 80 countries and territories making it one of the largest carriers in the world, and it plans to grow further. The airline has 374 jets on order with Boeing Co. and Airbus Group worth a combined $162 billion. That is on top of the 218 it currently flies, although many of those aircraft will replace some of the current fleet.
Flydubai is also soaring. It increased passengers last year by 38% to 6.8 million. To cater for forecast growth of Emirates and flydubai, Dubai Airports plans to increase capacity at Dubai International to 100 million by 2020 from 75 million currently. ubai has a master plan to expand its new secondary airport called Al Maktoum to cater for up to 160 million by the end of the next decade.
Dubai International may be edged out by Heathrow for the full year, as Dubai International plans an 80-day improvement project on its two runways on May 1 that will reduce the number of flights at the airport by 24%, and impact Emirates full-year revenues by $272 million.
Dubai International became the busiest airport globally for international passengers in the first quarter, overtaking London's Heathrow and illustrating the growth of Emirates Airline in less than 30 years of operations.
Dubai's main hub, the home of Emirates, handled 18.36 million international passengers in the first quarter of the year, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Monday. Heathrow counted 16 million people pass through its gates during the same period.
Heathrow surpassed Dubai to grab the top spot last year for international traffic, and the pair were followed by Hong Kong and Paris, according to official figures from Airports Council International, a global trade body, which hasn't released first quarter figures yet.
Statements from all four airports show Dubai to be the busiest airport for international passengers and the fastest-growing in the first quarter, as the number of people passing through the hub increased 11.4%, compared with the same period a year earlier.
"The growth in passenger and freight traffic supports our continued investment in expanding and improving our facilities at Dubai International," said Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports.
Heathrow, which on Monday reported a 10.8% increase in first quarter revenue on flat passenger numbers of 16 million, had no immediate comment on falling into second place. Airport Chief Executive Officer Colin Matthews previously pointed to Dubai's rise to argue for capacity constrained Heathrow gaining approval for a third runway.
The growth at Dubai International has become a contentious issue for aviation executives in the U.K., where politicians have been accused of procrastinating over the development of airport infrastructure around London. By contrast, Dubai International is owned by the emirate's autocratic government that has earmarked aviation as a priority and invested in upgrading its airports to mirror the growth of Emirates.
Emirates President Tim Clark said the healthy state of the aviation industry in Dubai was down to "progressive" economic policies and infrastructure. "This conducive environment has also attracted 120-plus other airlines to operate in Dubai," Mr. Clark said. "For Emirates, this means we have to be on our toes."
About 50% of the passengers through Dubai International are transit customers as Emirates has built a strategy on using widebodied aircraft to connect passengers in Asia and Australasia with Europe and the U.S. via a stop in its home hub. The airline carried nearly 40 million passengers in its last fiscal year. It and lower-cost, shorter-haul carrier flydubai, which is also based at Dubai International and equally fast growing, helped add 28 new destinations to the airport last year.
Having started operations in 1985, Emirates now serves 142 destinations in 80 countries and territories making it one of the largest carriers in the world, and it plans to grow further. The airline has 374 jets on order with Boeing Co. and Airbus Group worth a combined $162 billion. That is on top of the 218 it currently flies, although many of those aircraft will replace some of the current fleet.
Flydubai is also soaring. It increased passengers last year by 38% to 6.8 million. To cater for forecast growth of Emirates and flydubai, Dubai Airports plans to increase capacity at Dubai International to 100 million by 2020 from 75 million currently. ubai has a master plan to expand its new secondary airport called Al Maktoum to cater for up to 160 million by the end of the next decade.
Dubai International may be edged out by Heathrow for the full year, as Dubai International plans an 80-day improvement project on its two runways on May 1 that will reduce the number of flights at the airport by 24%, and impact Emirates full-year revenues by $272 million.
