With 13.6 million passengers in Q1 2022, Dubai International (DXB) had its busiest quarter since 2020, signaling that traffic recovery is gaining traction at the world’s biggest international hub. Passenger traffic at DXB has reached the 10-million milestone for the second quarter in a row.
Key figures and facts
DXB’s passenger volumes grew to 13.6 million in the first quarter of 2022, up 15.7 percent from 11.8 million in the final quarter of 2021, thanks to an increase of 5.5 million passengers in March. DXB, on the other hand, saw 5.7 million passengers in the first quarter of 2021.
DXB is currently served by 73 scheduled international flights to 193 destinations in 92 countries.
Cargo
During the first three months of 2022, DXB handled a total of 519,555 tonnes of cargo, down 15.5 percent from the previous quarter (Q4 2021), when the hub handled 614,834 tonnes of cargo.
Flights
Flight movements at DXB totaled 81,966 in the first quarter, up 5.8% from the final quarter of 2021, when 77,475 flights were registered.
Top destinations
With 1.6 million passengers, India maintained its long-held position as DXB’s leading destination country, followed by Saudi Arabia (1.1 million), Pakistan (997K), and the United Kingdom (934K passengers). London (617K passengers), Riyadh (517K), and Jeddah (337K) were the top three cities in terms of passenger counts, followed by Istanbul (324K passengers).
“DXB’s performance over the past successive quarters is nothing short of impressive and is a direct outcome of Dubai’s clear strategy and efforts to restore international air connectivity and mobility and lead the global aviation industry out of an unprecedented crisis.
While the recovery was initially led by point-to-point traffic, which continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels, the opening of international travel across many key markets has enabled transfer traffic to rebound to 60% of 2019 levels,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.
The year’s estimate remains positive, with yearly traffic expected to reach 58.3 million, well exceeding earlier projections, he said.
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