Dubai International Airport had 86.9m passengers last year in a post-pandemic surge

The number of passengers flying through Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, surged last year beyond its total for 2019 — just before the coronavirus pandemic grounded global aviation. While still shy of its all-time high in 2018, the figures for 2023 showed just how far the airport known as DXB has bounced back from the pandemic. The number of passengers passing through its cavernous, air-conditioned terminals, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates in Dubai, long has served as a barometer for the aviation industry worldwide and the wider economic health of this city-state. Overall in 2023, the airport had 86.9m passengers. The airport's 2019’s annual traffic was 86.3m passengers. The airport had 89.1m passengers in 2018 — its busiest-ever year before the pandemic, while 66m passengers passed through in 2022. Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, made the announcement Monday on state-owned radio station Dubai Eye. Passenger traffic largely has been driven by the airport’s standard travel destinations — India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Russia has also been a major market as Dubai remains one of the few places still open to Russians during Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Dubai was among the first cities to reopen to tourists in the pandemic. That helped boost the city-state’s tourism industry, as attractions like the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab luxury hotel drew both visitors and transit passengers out of airport lounges. Earlier in February, Dubai announced its best-ever tourism numbers, saying it hosted 17.15m international overnight visitors in 2023. Average hotel occupancy stood around 77%. Meanwhile, its boom-and-bust real estate market remains on a hot streak, nearing all-time high valuations.<br/>