PASSENGER traffic through Dubai International Airport (DIA) crossed the 2.5 million mark in July, bringing the total number of passengers handled at the airport to over 16.28 million in seven months this year.
The figure of 2,528,060 for July translates into an increase of 13.89 per cent over July 2005 when the DIA had 2,219,697 passengers.
At 19,468, aircraft movement also increased significantly last month registering a 7.99 per cent growth over 2005. Total aircraft movement for January to July this year now stands at 136,011.
The total tonnage of cargo handled in the seven months this year reached 803,613 tonnes as against 743,408 tonnes from January to July 2005, a substantial increase of eight per cent. There was however a marginal drop of almost 2.5 per cent in cargo, down from 115,704 tonnes in July 2005 to 112,838 in July 2006.
DIA saw passenger movement rising 16.24 per cent in the first six months of this year as compared to the same period last year.
The airport handled a total of 13,759,320 passengers in the first half of 2006 as against 11,837,271 during the same period last year.
January and April witnessed the highest passenger movement this year with a comparative growth of 17.12 per cent and 21.48 per cent respectively over the corresponding period in 2005.
Cargo movement also went up by 10 per cent during the period. During the period under review, Dubai Cargo Village handled a total of 690,775 tonnes of cargo as compared to 627,704 tonnes in the corresponding period in 2005.