Dubai to become world’s busiest airport this decade, CEO says

Dubai International Airport expects to become the world’s busiest within this decade, overtaking Beijing and Atlanta, spurred on by the expansion of Emirates airline. The airport, which overtook London Heathrow, sees passenger traffic climbing to 83m this year from 78m last year and expects 90m people using the facility next year, said Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports. “The growth rates that we are experiencing are more than double what is being experienced by both Beijing and Atlanta," Griffiths said. “Within perhaps this decade, we should see ourselves exceeding the total traffic through those airports for the number 1 absolute spots." Dubai, already the world’s busiest airport by international traffic, added 7.5m passengers last year. While Atlanta Hartfield-Jackson, the main hub for Delta Air Lines Inc, remains the busiest, it only processed 5.3m additional passengers for a total of 101.5m. Beijing airport added 3.8m to reach 89.9m.<br/>