Dubai International (DXB) retained its position as the world’s number one hub for international passengers for the sixth consecutive year.
Annual traffic for 2019 reached 86.4 million – 6 million more than its nearest rival, London Heathrow.
DXB reached the figure despite facing a series of challenges throughout the year, including the 45-day closure of the airport’s southern runway to enable its refurbishment, global market conditions, as well as the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
During the fourth quarter of 2019, DXB welcomed 21.9m customers (1.3%), taking the average monthly passenger numbers at the hub to 7.2m for the year. The airport also breached the 8m customer mark twice during the year (July and August).
India retained its position as the top source market for DXB by passenger numbers, with traffic for 2019 reaching 11.9m, followed by Saudi Arabia with 6.3m customers, and the United Kingdom finishing a close third with 6.2m customers.
Other destination countries of note include China (3.6m customers) and the U.S. (3.2m). The top three cities were London (3.6 million customers), Mumbai (2.3m customers) and Riyadh with 2.2m customers.
