Dubai International retains busiest airport title in July

Dubai International (DXB) retained its title as the busiest airport for international flights in July 2023, according to OAG.

With 4.9 million seats, the airport achieved 19 per cent more international capacity than the next busiest international airport, London Heathrow (LHR), with 4.1 million seats.

Seats per day at Dubai (DXB) increased by 2 per cent compared to last month, and London Heathrow (LHR) grew by 1 per cent.

This strong performance continued in the first quarter of 2023, exceeding its expectations. As a result, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said they revised the upward traffic forecast for 2023 to 83.6 million passengers, which will put DXB within striking distance of our 2019 annual traffic.

“DXB’s performance in the first quarter exceeded our expectations and reflects the strong growth in demand that we continue to see across our key markets. With important developments in the international travel sector, such as the further easing of travel protocols in China and the upcoming local annual seasonal peaks and festive holidays, our outlook for the second quarter and the remainder of the year remains bullish,” he said.

Traffic at Dubai International reached 95.6 per cent of 2019 levels, with passenger numbers exceeding 21.2 million in the first quarter of the year.

Amsterdam (AMS), ranked in third place, has added 3 per cent more seats per day compared to last month.

London Gatwick (LGW) added the most seats this month, adding 263,710, 9 per cent more seats per day than last month.

Doha (DOH) and Seoul Incheon (ICN) both added 7 per cent more seats per day compared to last month and are in 8th and 9th place.

World’s busiest airports

While Atlanta (ATL) was the world’s busiest airport in July 2023 with 5.5 million seats – 12 per cent more seats than Dubai International Airport (DXB) which is the second busiest airport with 4.9 million seats.

There is one more day in July compared to June, and looking at seats per day shows Atlanta and Dubai have both increased capacity by 1 per cent and 2 per cent respectively this month compared to last month.

Tokyo (HND) continues to be the third biggest airport with 4.6 million seats and seats per day have increased by 2% compared to last month.

-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

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