Dubai International welcomed 36.9 million passengers during the first five months of 2018, according to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports.

DXB welcomed a total of 36,943,613 passengers during the first five months of 2018 compared to 36,969,594 passengers recorded during the same period last year, a marginal contraction of 0.1 per cent, largely due to the impact of Ramadan which fell in May this year.

Passenger traffic for the past 12 months totalled 88,216,118, up 2.6 per cent compared to 85,974,096 recorded during the corresponding period in 2016-2017.

In May, passenger numbers totalled 6,589,264 compared to 6,850,052 recorded during the same month last year, a contraction of 3.8 per cent due to lower volumes traditionally experienced during Ramadan.

Average monthly traffic volumes have however remained high in 2018 at 7.4 million passengers.

Eastern Europe was the fastest growing region in May with 19.4 per cent growth, thanks to robust growth on routes to Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania and the launch of flydubai’s new services to Krakow in Poland.

India was the top destination country with a total of 1,041,258 passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (495,242), and the UK (429,893), while the top cities for passenger volumes were London with 262,913 passengers, Mumbai (213,056) and Jeddah (179,756).

Flight movements during the month under review totalled 32,620 compared to 34,544 during May 2017, a drop of 5.6 per cent.

DXB handled a total of 221,363 tonnes of cargo during May, down 4.9 per cent compared to 232,884 tonnes during the same month last year.