NEW DELHI: The collapse of Jet Airways last year, among other factors, has led to Dubai International Airport (DXB) seeing its passenger traffic fall for the first time in years. One of the world’s busiest airports, DXB handled 8.6 crore passengers in 2019 — 3.1% less than 2018. Traffic growth had been slowing in Dubai for some time now.
According to Airports Council International (ACI), DXB had seen its passenger traffic grow by 1% in 2018 over 2017 “after years of double-digit percentage traffic growth”.
India, however, retained its position as the top destination country for DXB in 2019 also with passenger numbers to and from here at 1.2 crore. Saudi Arabia was a distant second destination country at almost half of India’s numbers (63 lakh). Dubai is the biggest international destination for Indian travelers, with Mumbai-Dubai and Delhi-Dubai being the busiest routes for years. Apart from end-to-end traffic, DXB is a major transit point for people travelling between India and rest of the world via there.
