https://arab.news/g5hcd
- New Delhi and Mumbai top destinations
- Overall Q1 passenger traffic down by two thirds
DUBAI: India retained its position as Dubai International Airport’s top destination country during the first quarter.
Traditionally a strong market for the UAE, India passenger traffic reached 1,384,448 – propelled by top city destinations New Delhi and Mumbai, Dubai Airports said in a statement on Wednesday.
Pakistan was placed second with 454,294 customers, followed by Bangladesh (221,027 customers) and Russia (196,890 customers).
Overall Dubai passenger numbers fell by 67.8 percent in the first quarter to 5.75 million compared to a year earlier.
However the year-earlier period was largely unaffected by pandemic-related flight suspensions which only began to emerge toward the end of the quarter.
By the end of March 2021, the airport served 63 percent of the destinations in 89 percent of the countries on 74 percent of the airlines compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai Airports said.
“Whilst passenger numbers for the first quarter remained significantly below the monthly volumes we handled before March 2020, in the context of the current global situation they are very encouraging and reflect the consolidation phase in our business recovery,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.
Cargo volumes remained strong with the airport handling a total of 550,811 tons of airfreight during the first three months of 2021, a year on year increase of 3.2 percent.
Total flight movements during the first quarter totaled 50,176, down 38.3 percent from last year reflecting the impact of the pandemic on airline operations.