Cheap tickets drive Dubai Airport passenger traffic up 10%

Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport rose by 10.3 per cent last month as travellers took advantage of cheap tickets.

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Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport rose by 10.3 per cent last month as travellers took advantage of cheap tickets offered at Emirates Airline and the more than 120 other carriers serving the airport. The airport handled 3.36 million passengers last month, up from 3.04 million in June last year, Dubai Airports said today. The growth comes as local airlines say they are carrying more passengers after being forced to lower fares by an average of 20 per cent because of the global economic downturn.

Emirates, the largest airline operating at Dubai Airport, carried 13 per cent more passengers in May and June compared with a year ago, Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, said recently. "There's no shortage of economy movement ? in fact there is a lot more than there was this time last year," Mr Clark said last month. "The problem is the money we're getting." Dubai Airports said passenger traffic grew 2.1 per cent during the first quarter, 6.4 per cent in April, and 7.1 per cent in May.

Cargo shipments were down for the month by 2.3 per cent to 152,278 tons from a year earlier, compared with a global decline of more than 20 per cent according to the International Air Transport Association. igale@thenational.ae