A total of 5.08 million passengers passed through Dubai International airport in February, marking an 11.4 per cent increase over the same period last year.

A total of 4,561,147 passengers were recorded passing through the airport in February last year.

Year-to-date, passenger numbers have reached 10,640,120, an increase of 13 per cent compared with the same time last year.

Freight volumes were also up in February, rising 16 per cent to 182,580 tonnes.

Passenger throughput is only set to grow following the confirmation of Dubai-based carrier Emirates partnership with Australia’s Qantas in late March.

The alliance was agreed last year, but final approval from Australia’s competition watchdog was granted on 27 March. The partnership will see more flights between Australia, Europe and Africa routed via Dubai airport rather than via Qanta’s previous transit hub in Singapore.

To meet the increasing capacity, Dubai airport is expanding its facilities. Concourse A became fully operational earlier this year, catering solely for Emirates’ jumbo A380 aircraft. Terminal 2 is also being expanded, while Terminal 1 is being upgraded and Concourse D is being built.