Dubai to have ‘world's busiest airports by 2015’

Monday, 16 May 2011 01:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Passenger numbers at Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum airports will rise by 7.2 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively from next year, making them the world’s busiest airports by 2015, said a report.

The passenger numbers outperform the global average of 5 per cent, according to a ten year traffic forecast by leading UK-based tourism and travel firm Beat the Brochure.

Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International is currently being used as a cargo hub, and is set to begin receiving passengers from 2012, but while Dubai Airports have predicted that 75 million passengers will pass through both of these airports, they have even bigger predictions for the years ahead, the report said.

'The news from Dubai Airports makes for very positive reading for travellers heading to Dubai as it shows that more and more people are choosing to travel to Dubai,” said Daniel Ox of Beat The Brochure.

“It follows previously positive passenger growth numbers in 2009, when the amount of international passengers grew by 9.1 per cent on the previous year. This new announcement reveals that more and more holidaymakers are opting to book holidays in Dubai, which is just fantastic news.'

'Dubai Airports' predictions for airport growth are really quite astounding, and while they are expecting a huge number of travellers to pass through both airports in the next four years, they have also projected that the number of passengers will reach 98.5 million by 2020,” Ox added.

“Obviously this is a rather large growth that's expected in Dubai over the coming years, but other destinations are predicted to do well too, as travellers gear up for the summer season by booking other breaks, such as holidays in Turkey and Paris,” he concluded.