PASSENGER traffic at Dubai International Airport grew 27 per cent in the first half to 10.41 million passengers, compared with 8.18 during the same period last year, an aviation release said.

April witnessed the highest movement of passengers with growth of 45.01 per cent. Aircraft movements also showed healthy growth of 18.5 per cent with a total of 94,795 in the six months against 79,990 last year, said a tradearabia.com report.
The Dubai Cargo Village registered 21.7 per cent growth as it handled 535,212 tonnes of cargo. The most successful months were January and February with 24.4 per cent and 26.4 per cent year-on-year growth.
The executive flight service handled 2,022 flights in the first six months, up from 1,562 last year, while Dubai International Hotel continued its success with an average 106 per cent room occupancy. January, February and March were the busiest months.
First-half sales at Dubai Duty Free rose to Dh849.6 million ($236 million), a 43 per cent increase over the same period last year and placing the airport retailer, which is number three in the world, on track for annual forecast sales of Dh1.8 billion ($500 million), the report added.
The new figures reflect a consistent sales pattern that began with record annual turnover of $380 million for 2003 and continued with a 45 per cent increase in first-quarter sales.
A breakdown of first half sales shows dramatic increases in such categories as perfumes, which rose by 50 per cent, gold by 47 per cent and electronics sales by 36 per cent, the report added.