Dubai International Airport Remains The World’s Busiest For The Fifth Year In A Row, All Thanks To Indians

Dubai International Airport on Monday (28 January) announced that it has retained its position as the world’s busiest airport for the fifth year in a row in 2018, reports The New Indian Express. Indian travellers were the largest source of traffic for the airport, which registered a footfall of over 89 million.

The annual traffic at one of the major transit hubs of the world rose by over one per cent as it increased to 89.15 million passengers from 2017. Despite the figure being a new high, the airport missed the 90.3 million passenger target it had projected for 2018.

"2018 was yet another remarkable year for Dubai airports," said CEO Paul Griffiths.

Indian travellers were the largest source of traffic for the airport with over 12.2 million visitors. A large number of Indians came from Mumbai, Delhi and Cochin.

Saudis came second with over 6.4 million passengers, overtaking travellers from Britain, who came third with an estimated 6.3 million footfalls.

The 8 million passenger mark was exceeded twice last year in July and August, making the latter the busiest month in the history of the airport since it launched in 1960. The airport overthrew London’s Heathrow as the busiest international hub in 2014.