Dubai International Airport (DXB) recorded over 21 million passengers in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, almost reaching the pre-pandemic levels. Last year the airport recorded 66 million passengers to retain its position as the world’s busiest airport.
In the first three months of 2023, passenger traffic went up 55.8%, compared to the Q1 of 2022. This is the first time since the Q4 of 2019 when average monthly traffic reached the seven million passenger mark. The airport reported March 2023 as its busiest month in the first quarter, with 7.3 million passengers, which is also the highest monthly traffic since January 2020 when the traffic was 7.8 million.
“DXB’s performance in the first quarter has exceeded our expectations and reflects the strong growth in demand that we are continuing to see across our key markets. With important developments in the international travel sector such as the further easing of travel protocols in China, and the upcoming local annual seasonal peaks and festive holidays, our outlook for the second quarter and the remainder of the year remains bullish,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports.
India remained DXB’s top destination country with passenger traffic reaching 3 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with 1.6 million, the UK with 1.4 million and Pakistan with 1million passengers.
The list of top cities by passenger numbers was led by London with 890,000 followed by Mumbai with 645,000 and Jeddah 641,000.
DXB handled a total of 400,015 tonnes of cargo during Q1, a contraction of 23% compared to the first quarter of 2022.
The airport reported total flight movements of 100,840, with a 23% Y-O-Y increase and 1.6% higher than Q1 of 2019.
“We have had to readjust our traffic forecast for 2023 upward to 83.6 million passengers, which will put DXB within striking distance to our 2019 annual traffic,” Griffiths added.
