Dubai International surpassed Heathrow as the busiest airport globally for international passengers last year despite major runway upgrades that limited traffic for 80 days and grounded Emirates Airline jets.
Dubai’s main hub had already passed London’s Heathrow as the world’s biggest international hub for international passengers in the first quarter of last year, but the upgrade to the Gulf airport’s two runways over the summer months had meant the U.K. airport might retain its crown over the course of the full year.
Dubai handled 70.4 million passengers last year, up 6.1% on the previous year, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Tuesday. A record 68.1 million international passengers used London’s Heathrow in the same period.
Dubai is home to Emirates, which is the world’s biggest international carrier by traffic flown. Low-cost carrier FlyDubai is also based at the hub and has been rapidly expanding routes around the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it launched a little over five years ago.
“This historic milestone is the culmination of over five decades of double-digit average growth,” Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of both Dubai Airports and Emirates, said in a statement.
- Dubai Overtakes Heathrow (04/29 2014)
- Emirates Airline Net Profit Up 8% (11/12 2014)
- Dubai is expected to open a new concourse this year to house international airlines and will increase capacity at the airport to 90 million annually. Dubai Airports forecasts 79 million passengers will fly through the airport this year.
Dubai International has become the busiest international hub in the world despite a challenging aviation environment globally and in the Middle East last year.
The airport and Emirates have managed regional conflict across the Middle East, the Ebola epidemic in Africa and the fallout from two Malaysia Airlines disasters and the crash last month of an Air Asia Flight 8501. Airport upgrades cut operations to one runway over the summer and the number of flights was reduced by 26% during May and June.
Dubai Airports said in September it would build a $32 billion new airport in Dubai within eight years to eventually carry up to 240 million passengers annually to meet Emirates growth projections.
Emirates said in November it carried 23.3 million passengers between April 1 and Sept. 30, 2013, an increase of 8.4% from the corresponding period last year. Net profit in its first half amounted to $514 million, up 8%. The airline will report full-year figures in May
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