Dubai Airport to become the world’s second largest international airport from November

[alberttky 0]

A CAPA analysis of forward schedule data has revealed Dubai International Airport (DIA) will take the spot of the world’s second busiest international airport from Nov-2011, leap-frogging Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

 

Dubai is currently the world’s fourth busiest international airport in terms of monthly passenger traffic, having recently overtaken Frankfurt International Airport. The UAE airport handled 4.7 million passengers in Jul-2011, a 9.7% increase year-on-year. The monthly figure was more than 400,000 passengers above the previous monthly record. The largest growth was seen on routes from the GCC, Indian Subcontinent, Western Europe and North America.

 

Year to date traffic at the airport rose 9% to 29.3 million. Dubai hopes to top 50 million passengers p/a this year and it has the runway and terminal capacity to handle a 50% increase over that.

 

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said that the airport aspires to take over the number three ranking from Hong Kong International Airport by the end of the year. (In Jul-2011, HKIA handled around 5 million passengers, with growth of 5.7% year-on-year).

 

However, a CAPA analysis of seat capacity has shown that the upcoming Winter 2011/2012 schedule will catapult Dubai into second spot - ahead of HKIA and Paris CDG.

 

CAPA’s Airport Rankings tool shows that airlines at Dubai Airport will offer more than 1.3 million seats per week in Nov-2011. Dubai will hold this advantage through December and into the New Year.

 

The capacity hike comes about as a result of the seasonal upswing in capacity offered by airlines based in the Gulf, as well as increases in traffic connecting between Europe and the Asia Pacific via Dubai. Also aiding DIA’s leap is the effect of lower seasonal traffic levels in Europe during the early winter period, which will push Paris CDG down to fourth spot as Christmas approaches.

 

The question is whether Dubai can maintain its grip on second spot once the Northern Summer schedule commences in 2012. Seasonal traffic in Europe soars, as European carriers re-jig their schedules, while traffic in the Gulf slows, particularly through the second quarter.

 

Aiming for number 1

 

DIA’s stated ambition is to outstrip London Heathrow as the busiest international airport in the world, a position it estimates it can reach by 2015. By 2020 Dubai Airports expects DIA to handle around 98 million passengers per annum.

 

According to Airports Council International, for the year to May-2011, London Heathrow was the largest airport in the world, with 24.8 million international passengers and growth of 9.9% year-on-year. Paris CDG was second with 21.4 million, up 6.9%, followed by HKIA, with 20.9 million passengers, up 5.5%.

 

However, London Heathrow has little spare capacity for expansion, with just two runways already operating at near peak capacity. HKIA faces runway and airspace capacity constraints, and is pushing for closer collaboration with the other four airports in the Pearl River Delta, as well as the development of a USD17 billion third runway. Of its larger rivals, only Paris CDG is relatively unconstrained in terms of capacity, but has been consistently outstripped in terms of growth by DIA.

 

If recent rates of growth continue, Dubai could maintain its position (from Nov-2011) as the world's second busiest international airport through 2012 and could overtake Heathrow before 2015.

 

http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/2011/08/26/dubai-airport-to-become-the-worlds-second-largest-international-airport-from-november/page1

[JuliusWong 0]

And the domination of ME continues....

[Ashraf 0]

EK carried more than 32 million pax last year....and this year the numbers keep growing

[KK Lee 5]

Dubai Displaces Heathrow as Busiest International Air Hub

 

Dubai ended London Heathrow airport’s decades of dominance as the world’s top international air hub last year, buoyed by surging passenger numbers at local carrier Emirates with its record-breaking fleet of wide-body jets.

Dubai International Airport boosted passenger numbers 6.1 percent to 70.5 million last year, almost all of them traveling to or from locations outside the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement today. That took it past Heathrow, which attracted 68.09 million international travelers in 2014.

Dubai has used its location at a geographical crossroads between Europe, Asia, Africa and theMiddle East to establish itself as a base for inter-continental transfer flights, with Emirates already the world’s No. 1 carrier by international traffic. The sheikhdom is building a new hub at Al Maktoum airport which could one day handle 200 million passengers, just as growth at Heathrow is stymied by the constraints of its two runways and political wrangling over whether to add a third.

“2015 promises to be another eventful year featuring more record passenger numbers and facility upgrades including the opening of Concourse D which will boost Dubai International’s capacity to 90 million,’’ Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, said in today’s release. He forecast 79 million people will travel through Dubai’s airport this year.

Emirates has transformed Dubai’s role in the aviation industry with the world’s biggest twin-aisle fleet, built around orders for 140 Airbus Group NV (AIR) A380 superjumbos.

Still, runway repairs clipped Dubai International’s capacity by about one-quarter for 80 days last summer, limiting expansion to the extent that the airport failed to overtake Heathrow’s overall tally of 73.4 million passengers, including 5.3 million who traveled on domestic flights.

 

Atlanta Leads

Measured by total customers, the two hubs continue to lag behind Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, home base to Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), which recorded 96.2 million travelers in the 12 months through November, based on the latest figures on its website, and Beijing Capital (694), which lured 86.1 million in 2014. The U.S. and Chinese airports get most passengers from domestic flights.

Heathrow, where British Airways is based, ranked third in the world behind Atlanta and Beijing in 2013, according to Airports Council International, with Dubai seventh after Tokyo Haneda, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International. ACI has yet to publish a full set of data for 2014.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-27/dubai-displaces-heathrow-as-busiest-international-air-hub.html

Edited January 27, 2015 by KK Lee