TravTalk Middle East Online Magazine
Dubai International (DXB) retained its position as the world’s number one hub for international passengers for the sixth consecutive year with annual traffic for 2019 reaching 86.4 million, 6 million more than the nearest rival London Heathrow. India retained its position as the top destination country for DXB by passenger numbers, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
The year was also exceptional for DXB in terms of customer service with shorter wait times, record-breaking baggage performance and new retail and food & beverage offerings as summarised in the report by Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.
Key facts and figures
DXB welcomed a total of 86,396,757 for the full year of 2019 (-3.1 per cent) as numbers were affected by a series of challenges throughout the year, including the 45-day closure of the airport’s southern runway to enable its refurbishment, global market conditions, as well as the worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft. During the fourth quarter of 2019, DXB welcomed 21.9 million customers (1.3 per cent), taking the average monthly passenger numbers at the hub to 7.2 million for the year. The airport also breached the 8-million customer mark twice during the year (July and August).
Expressing satisfaction with DXB’s performance in 2019, Griffiths said, “While customer numbers in 2019 were lower than the preceding year, the impact of the 45-day closure of the runway, the bankruptcy of Jet Airways, as well as the grounding of the Boeing’s 737 Max accounted for an estimated 3.2 million passengers over the course of the year, indicating an underlying growth at DXB.”
Top destinations
India retained its position as the top destination country for DXB by passenger numbers, with traffic for 2019 reaching 11.9 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with 6.3 million customers, and the UK finishing a close third with 6.2 million customers. Other destination countries of note include China (3.6 million customers) and the U.S. (3.2 million). The top three cities were London (3.6 million customers), Mumbai (2.3 million customers) and Riyadh with 2.2 million customers.
