Dubai now has the world's busiest airport – overtaking London Heathrow, according to passenger-use figures since 2013.
Dubai International Airport reported that 70.5 million international passengers poured through its terminals last year, a six per cent increase over the 66.4 million travellers it handled two years ago. And now that it has passed Heathrow for the first time on a full-year basis, the world’s top international travel hub said it expects a further surge in traveller numbers in 2015.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, Chair if Dubai International Airport said: "This historic milestone is the culmination of over five decades of double-digit average growth.” In narrowly lost its crown-reports show 68.1 million international passengers used Heathrow in last year-a Heathrow spokesperson said: "Britain has benefited from being home to the world's largest port or airport for the last 350 years.
But lack of capacity at Heathrow means we have inevitably lost our crown to Dubai. This highlights the pressing need to get on and expand our own hub, Heathrow, so we can connect the whole of the UK to global growth." Flights to and from Western Europe saw the biggest passenger growth in Dubai, followed closely by destinations in the Indian subcontinent, Asia and North America.
