Abu Dhabi airport passenger numbers rise 24.8% in Aug

A total of 1,920,934 passengers passed through Abu Dhabi Airport in August 2014. — Supplied photo

Abu Dhabi: Passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport increased by 24.8 per cent year-on-year in August, as expatriate families returned from their summer vacations.

A total of 1,920,934 passengers passed through Abu Dhabi Airport in August 2014, compared with 1,538,632 in the same month of 2013, said Abu Dhabi Airports.

Aircraft movement was also on the rise reaching 13,395 movements, representing a 15.4 per cent increase over the 11,608 movements that took place in August 2013.

Cargo activity increased 9.9 per cent to 66,215 tonnes in the month.

Eng Ahmad Al Haddabi, chief operations officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said the month of August recorded another double digit growth in passenger numbers for Abu Dhabi International Airport which is due to residents flying back from their vacations in time for the beginning of the school season.

Additionally, Abu Dhabi is increasingly being seen a preferred tourism and business destination as well as one of the fastest growing aviation hubs in the region with access to over 90 destinations around the world, he said.

“We constantly work hard on enhancing our services through various initiatives including the capacity enhancement programme which aims to develop the airport’s current facilities to with stand the increasing number of passengers,” Al Haddabi said.

In August 2014, the top five routes from Abu Dhabi International Airport were Bangkok, London Heathrow, Doha, Manila and Bahrain.

The top five routes accounted for 15 per cent of all traffic.

haseeb@khaleejtimes.com