Dubai International Airport, world’s busiest, on track to beat 2019 pre-pandemic passenger figures

Passenger numbers at Dubai International Airport this year will eclipse the pre-pandemic passenger figures in 2019, showing the strong rebound in travel after the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns that grounded aircraft worldwide, a top official said Wednesday. The airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and home of the long-haul carrier Emirates, has had 64.5m passengers pass through its cavernous concourses through the third quarter of this year. That puts it on track to reach 86.8m passengers for the full year, which would exceed its 2019 figure of 86.3m passengers. It had 66m passengers last year. The airport’s busiest year was 2018, when it had 89.1m passengers. “We’re thrilled but not entirely surprised that DXB is all set to surpass the pre-pandemic milestone well ahead of our initial projections by almost a year,” Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said in a statement. Through Q3, Dubai’s main airport handled 308,000 total takeoffs and landings. India, long a key route for Emirates’ East-West travel strategy, led all countries in destinations, followed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the US and Russia. Emirates and other airlines in the United Arab Emirates, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms, have continued to fly to Moscow even during Russia’s war on Ukraine. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains the busiest passenger airport overall.<br/>