DXB achieved the milestone despite a significant reduction in capacity resulting from the 45-day closure of its northern runway in May-June for a major refurbishment project.

 Maintaining its growth recovery for the ninth successive quarter since the start of the pandemic, DXB recorded 14.2 million passengers in the second quarter of this year, a year-on-year jump of 190.6 percent. The hub welcomed a total of 27,884,888 passengers in the first half (H1) of the year, up 161.9 percent compared to H1 2021. The traffic volume represents 67.5 percent of DXB’s pre-pandemic passenger traffic during the same period in 2019.

 India remained DXB’s top destination country by passenger numbers with traffic for the first half reaching four million passengers – driven primarily by top city destinations such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad. Saudi Arabia was second on the list with two million passengers, followed closely by the UK with 1.9 million passengers. Other country destinations of note include Pakistan (1.7 million passengers), and the US. (1.4 million passengers).

 The top three cities were London with 1.3 million passengers, Riyadh (910,000 passengers), and Mumbai (726,000 passengers).

 During the first six months of the year, DXB handled a total of 154,993 flight movements, up 55.9 percent compared to the first half of 2021. The figure represents 87 percent of the pre-pandemic flight movements at DXB during the first half of 2019.