Dubai International Airport had 86.9 million passengers last year in a post-pandemic surge

DUBAI – The choice of passengers flying via Dubai International Airport, the arena’s busiest for world shuttle, surged last year past its general for 2019 — simply earlier than the coronavirus pandemic grounded international aviation.

While nonetheless shy of its all-time prime in 2018, the figures for 2023 confirmed simply how some distance the airport referred to as DXB has bounced again from the pandemic. The choice of passengers passing via its cavernous, air-conditioned terminals, house to the long-haul service Emirates in Dubai, long has served as a barometer for the aviation industry worldwide and the broader financial well being of this city-state.

Overall in 2023, the airport had 86.9 million passengers. The airport’s 2019’s annual site visitors was once 86.3 million passengers. The airport had 89.1 million passengers in 2018 — its busiest-ever year earlier than the pandemic, whilst 66 million passengers handed via in 2022.

Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, made the announcement Monday on state-owned radio station Dubai Eye.

Passenger site visitors in large part has been pushed by means of the airport’s usual shuttle locations — India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Russia has additionally been a primary marketplace as Dubai remains one of the few places still open to Russians during Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Dubai was among the first cities to reopen to tourists in the pandemic. That helped spice up the city-state’s tourism business, as sights just like the Burj Khalifa, the arena’s tallest construction, and the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab luxurious lodge drew each guests and transit passengers out of airport lounges.

Earlier in February, Dubai introduced its best-ever tourism numbers, announcing it hosted 17.15 million world in a single day guests in 2023. Average lodge occupancy stood round 77%. Meanwhile, its boom-and-bust real estate market remains on a hot streak, nearing all-time prime valuations.

The airport has estimated it is going to serve 88.8 million passengers this year — nearing its all-time prime. But that can put expanding power at the already-stretched airport, which had its highest-ever choice of airplane takeoffs and landings in a unmarried year — 416,405.

Dubai has a 2d airport, Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) away in its some distance southern reaches. While used by commercial airlines when Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the second one airport that opened in 2010 in large part sees shipment and personal airplane flights. Plans to place Emirates and different primary carriers there were many times driven off.

Dubai International Airport connects to 262 locations in 104 international locations international by the use of simply over 100 world carriers.