Abu Dhabi airport posts 24% rise in passengers

Abu Dhabi Airports has reported a 23.9 per cent increase in passenger traffic during the month of September 2014 as compared to September 2013.

The airport's passenger statistics showed that 1,696,651 passengers used the airport during the month, growing from 1,369,051 in September 2013. Aircraft movements increased to 13,070 in September 2014, recording 14.9 per cent growth when compared with 11,379 movements logged in September 2013.

Cargo activity handling rose to 67,881 tonnes representing a 9.6 per cent increase when compared to 61,913 tonnes in September 2013.

Ahmad Al Haddabi, Chief Operations Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said, "This (growth) was mainly due to the end of the summer holidays that coincided with the Hajj season, which occurred in September this year. Increased activity by Etihad Airways' new partner airlines Air Berlin, Jet Airways and Air Seychelles also had a positive impact."

The top five routes from Abu Dhabi International Airport during September were Doha, London, Bangkok, Manila and Bombay. The top five routes accounted for 15 per cent of all traffic.

Al Haddabi added, "Abu Dhabi International Airport is set to become one of the fastest-growing aviation hubs in the world and this is supported by the numbers. Total passenger movements during the first 9 months of the year (January to September) were 14,803,324, representing an increase of 20.9 per cent against the same period of the year 2013."

Within the next few years, over 30 million passengers are expected to use Abu Dhabi International Airport as their origin, destination or transit point for international and domestic flights. The Midfield Terminal Complex (MTC), Abu Dhabi Airports' iconic expansion project, is being constructed to handle increasing passenger traffic. Meanwhile, the airports has implemented a Capacity Enhancement Programme with several key infrastructure projects already delivered to provide the intermediate capacity that will be needed to meet the increase in demand before the Midfield Terminal Building becomes operational.

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