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9/28/2014 Dubai Overtakes Heathrow as Busiest Airport for International Passengers - WSJ
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Dubai Overtakes Heathrow as Busiest Airport for International PassengersMilestone Illustrates Growth Of Emirates Airline After Less Than 30 Years Of Operations
Updated April 29, 2014 6:38 a.m. ET
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DUBAI—Dubai International became the busiest airport globally for internationalpassengers in the first quarter, overtaking London's Heathrow and illustrating thegrowth of Emirates Airline in less than 30 years of operations.
Dubai's main hub, the home of Emirates, handled 18.36 million internationalpassengers in the first quarter of the year, Dubai Airports said in a statement onMonday. Heathrow counted 16 million people pass through its gates during the sameperiod.
Heathrow surpassed Dubai to grab thetop spot last year for international traffic,and the pair were followed by Hong Kongand Paris, according to official figuresfrom Airports Council International, aglobal trade body, which hasn't releasedfirst quarter figures yet.
Statements from all four airports showDubai to be the busiest airport forinternational passengers and the fastest-growing in the first quarter, as thenumber of people passing through thehub increased 11.4%, compared with the
same period a year earlier.
"The growth in passenger and freight traffic supports our continued investment inexpanding and improving our facilities at Dubai International," said Paul Griffiths, chiefexecutive officer of Dubai Airports.
An Emirates airline passenger jet taxis on the tarmac at Dubai International airport in Dubai, United ArabEmirates. Associated Press
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Dubai plans to build one of the biggest airports in theworld, right in the middle of the desert. The airport willeventually cater to 160 million passengers each year,but when and whether Emirates Airline moves to thenew site is the key sticking point.
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9/28/2014 Dubai Overtakes Heathrow as Busiest Airport for International Passengers - WSJ
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Heathrow, which on Monday reported a 10.8% increase in first quarter revenue on flatpassenger numbers of 16 million, had no immediate comment on falling into secondplace. Airport Chief Executive Officer Colin Matthews previously pointed to Dubai'srise to argue for capacity constrained Heathrow gaining approval for a third runway.
The growth at Dubai International has become a contentious issue for aviationexecutives in the U.K., where politicians have been accused of procrastinating overthe development of airport infrastructure around London. By contrast, DubaiInternational is owned by the emirate's autocratic government that has earmarkedaviation as a priority and invested in upgrading its airports to mirror the growth ofEmirates.
Emirates President Tim Clark said the healthy state of the aviation industry in Dubaiwas down to "progressive" economic policies and infrastructure. "This conduciveenvironment has also attracted 120-plus other airlines to operate in Dubai," Mr. Clarksaid. "For Emirates, this means we have to be on our toes."
About 50% of the passengers through Dubai International are transit customers asEmirates has built a strategy on using widebodied aircraft to connect passengers inAsia and Australasia with Europe and the U.S. via a stop in its home hub. The airlinecarried nearly 40 million passengers in its last fiscal year. It and lower-cost, shorter-haul carrier flydubai, which is also based at Dubai International and equally fastgrowing, helped add 28 new destinations to the airport last year.
Having started operations in 1985, Emirates now serves 142 destinations in 80countries and territories making it one of the largest carriers in the world, and it plansto grow further. The airline has 374 jets on order with Boeing Co. andAirbus Group worth a combined $162 billion. That is on top of the 218it currently flies, although many of those aircraft will replace some of the current fleet.
Flydubai is also soaring. It increased passengers last year by 38% to 6.8 million. Tocater for forecast growth of Emirates and flydubai, Dubai Airports plans to increasecapacity at Dubai International to 100 million by 2020 from 75 million currently. ubaihas a master plan to expand its new secondary airport called Al Maktoum to cater forup to 160 million by the end of the next decade.
Dubai International may be edged out by Heathrow for the full year, as DubaiInternational plans an 80-day improvement project on its two runways on May 1 thatwill reduce the number of flights at the airport by 24%, and impact Emirates full-yearrevenues by $272 million.
Write to Rory Jones at [email protected]
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JASON FRANK
Why would anyone stopover in Heathrow unless they absolutely had no otheroption? Not only is it miserable if the regime sees a facebook post you made thatthey don't like they might even pull you off the transfer and jail you. Even Dubai'sreligious police don't do that.
Tom Green
fly2dubai is becoming the way Asian flights going to Europe are stopping over.
Apr 29, 2014
Apr 28, 2014
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9/28/2014 Dubai Overtakes Heathrow as Busiest Airport for International Passengers - WSJ
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