Dubai Airport raises 2023 passenger forecast to 85m

Dubai International has raised its passenger traffic forecast for the year from 83.6m to 85m, slightly short of the annual traffic levels reached by the airport in 2019. This comes amidst expectations of record-breaking numbers during winter. Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “We started the second half with strong demand in July, and with the ongoing seasonal peak coinciding with the reopening of schools in August, we’re preparing for an exceptionally busy rest of the year. We’ve readjusted our forecast for the year from 83.6m guests to 85m, just 1.6% shy of DXB’s annual traffic in 2019." For H1 2023, the airport crossed the pre-pandemic level with 41.3 million passengers, 49% higher than the number recorded for the prior year period, the state-owned operator Dubai Airports said on Tuesday. DXB, a major regional hub for international travel, handled 20.3m passengers in Q2, up nearly 43% year-on-year (YoY). May was the busiest month during Q2 with 6.9m passengers. For DXB, India was the top country destination in terms of traffic volume H1 with 6 million passengers.<br/>Saudi Arabia was second with 3.1m passengers, followed by the UK (2.8m passengers) and Pakistan (2m passengers).<br/>