Dubai International passenger numbers continued to soar in February with 5.08 million customers passing through the facility up 11.4 per cent from the same period in 2012, according to the monthly traffic report issued today by Dubai Airports.

Passenger traffic totalled 5,080,360 in February up from 4,561,147 recorded during the same month in 2012.

Year to date, passenger numbers are up 13 per cent to 10,640,120 from 9,413,286 recorded during the same period last year.

Aircraft movements reached 28,085 in February, climbing 3.8 per cent from the 27,058 recorded in February 2012. 

Average passengers per aircraft movement, which is an indicator of airport efficiency and fleet mix, totalled a record 201 up 4.4 per cent from the 193 passengers per movement registered in February 2012 primarily due to the increased numbers of Emirates airline A380s.

Regionally, Eastern Europe was the fastest-expanding market in terms of percentage growth (up 29.6 per cent) driven by new services to Poland (Emirates) and Macedonia (flydubai), followed by Asia Pacific (up 21.8 per cent), Russia & CIS (up 18.5 per cent), AGCC (16.5 per cent) and Asia (15 per cent) thanks primarily to the additional Emirates daily service to Manila.

The Middle East was the only region to record fewer travellers with a slight year-on-year drop of 1.6 per cent.

The top three destination countries in terms of market size, continued to show strong positive growth overall in February.

Traffic on routes linking Dubai International’s largest market, the Indian Subcontinent, was up 10.8 per cent while the UK saw a 5.2 per cent traffic increase and the number three market Saudi Arabia continued its remarkable traffic growth with a 42.3 per cent increase compared to the same period last year thanks to expanded services between Dubai and Saudi Arabia launched in 2012 by Emirates, flydubai, nasair and Saudi Arabian Airlines.