A 3.8 per cent drop in passenger numbers in May, which coincided with Ramadan, has brought the total number of passengers processed by the Dubai International airport in the first five months of 2018 to 36.94 million, down 0.1 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

According to Dubai Airports, aircraft movement during the five-month period also fell by 3.5 per cent to 168,979, while air cargo volumes are down by 3.1 per cent to reach 1.05 million tonnes.

The company said Eastern Europe was the fastest growing region in May, having seen a 19.4 per cent growth, while India remained the top destination country with a total of 1.04 million passengers.

Dubai International processed 88.2 million passengers in 2017, growing 5.5 per cent over the previous year, and half a per cent below its initial forecast of 89 million.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said they expect passenger traffic to reach 90.3 million in 2018, a modest 2.3 per cent rise compared to the 2017 figure.