Dubai flights: Passenger traffic at DXB crosses 21.2 million in first quarter; India remains top destination

Dubai flights: Passenger traffic at DXB crosses 21.2 million in first quarter; India remains top destination

This is the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019 when average monthly traffic reached the 7-million passenger mark

Published: Tue 9 May 2023, 9:30 AM

Traffic at Dubai International Airport (DXB) almost reached pre-pandemic levels, with passenger numbers exceeding 21.2 million in the first quarter of the year. This follows DXB’s strong showing last year, when the airport clocked 66 million passengers to retain its position as the world’s busiest international hub for the ninth year running.

In the first three months of 2023, passenger traffic went up 55.8 per cent, compared to the first quarter of 2022. This is the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019 when average monthly traffic reached the 7-million passenger mark. March was the busiest month in the first quarter, with 7.3 million passengers, which is also the highest monthly traffic since January 2020 (7.8m passengers).

DXB is currently connected to 234 destinations across 99 countries via 89 scheduled international carriers.

Top destinations

India remained DXB’s top destination country with passenger traffic reaching 3 million, followed by Saudi Arabia (1.6 million), the UK (1.4 million) and Pakistan (1million). Other countries of include the US (840,000), Russia (729,000) and Germany (628,000).

The list of top cities by passenger numbers