Dubai Airports released mid-year traffic results which confirm Dubai International recorded the busiest six months in its 50 year history as 24.6 million passengers passed through the world’s fourth busiest airport for international passenger traffic during the first half of 2011, compared to 22.6 million in the corresponding period in 2010, an increase of 8.9%.

Dubai Airports has announced plans to invest Dh22 billion in the expansion of Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum Airport by 2020. Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman of parent-company Dubai World Central revealed during the recent Airport Show 2011, organised by REED Exhibitions, the plans would increase the capacity of the Dubai Airport to 90 million passengers annually.

Dubai Airports says that its traffic forecast for Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International (DWC) will increase rapidly over the next decade, making it the world’s busiest airport by 2015. The annoucement at ATM follows Dubai International Airport bein voted “Middle East’s Leading Airport” at this week’s World Travel Awards in Dubai.

Police in the United Arab Emirates are searching for a woman they suspect gave birth to a baby, which she then strangled in a toilet cubicle at Dubai International Airport, before catching a flight out of the country. Medics were unable to revive the baby boy.

Dubai International started the second half of the year on a positive note as Dubai Airports reported monthly passenger numbers that eclipsed the elusive four-million mark for the first time.

Despite a sharp downturn in travel and tourism in the emirate, Dubai Airports has registered a year-on-year growth of 10.3 percent in passenger traffic for the month of June.