Fresh off the back of its victory at World Travel Awards where it was voted “Middle East’s Leading Airport 2011”, Dubai International Airport has reported a 13.2 percent surge in passenger traffic in April.
Passenger traffic reached 4.23 million, up 13.2 percent compared to 3.74 million recorded during the same month in 2010.

However Dubai Airports partially attributed this rebound to the drop in traffic to and from Europe caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland during April last year.

The year to date traffic stands at 16.5 million, an increase of 8.5 percent over the corresponding period in 2010.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said: “We have surpassed the four million passenger mark three out of the first four months of the year and that trend is set to continue.”

The AGCC recorded the largest increase in total passenger numbers in April up 29.1 percent (+153,864 passengers), followed by Western Europe which grew by 20.1 percent (+142,185).

Routes to the Indian subcontinent recorded 9.4 per cent growth (+83,718 passengers), whilst those to Russia and the CIS grew by 25.4 percent (+22,286 passengers).

Aircraft movements for the month totalled 26,597, up 6.7 percent from 24,917 recorded during the same period last year.

Dubai International Airport handled 179,397 tonnes of international air freight in April, up 5.6 percent from the 169,902 tonnes recorded during the same period in 2010. The year to date freight volume has reached 686,679 tonnes, a contraction of 0.3 per cent compared to 688,537 tonnes for the corresponding period last year.

Griffiths added: “Our busiest summer ever is just around the corner and we will be working hard to maintain high service levels and ensure the comfort of our customers. That includes the activation of our Summer Mission programme which deploys additional customer service personnel to help passengers pass quickly and smoothly through our airport.”

The airport’s victory at the World Travel Awards early this month follows it picking up “Middle East’s Leading Airport” in 2010, whilst in 2009 it was voted “World’s Leading Airport”.