Airport aiming for 85 million passengers in 2016
Dubai International airport processed 7.7 million passengers in August, some 6 per cent higher compared with the same month in 2015.
This figure brings the total passenger numbers to 55.8 million for the first eight months of the year, a 6.9 per cent increase on the corresponding period last year.
Dubai Airports, which operates both Dubai International and Al-Maktoum International, has said it was aiming for 85 million visitors for Dubai International this year, some 8.9 per cent higher than the total achieved in 2015.
The opening earlier this year of Concourse D took the capacity of Dubai International from 75 million to 90 million passengers annually.
in the longer term, Dubai International is envisaged to process some 118.5 million visitors in 2023, or an average growth of under 5 per cent annually subject to variability in demand.
Due to its location, there is no more scope to expand the airport beyond this capacity by adding major infrastructure.
This means the airport will be turning to projects that would help enhance its efficiency to cope with the rising passenger traffic until phase 2 of the Al-Maktoum airport is completed in 2025.
In August, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) awarded the estimated AED700m ($190m) contract to upgrade Concourse C at Dubai International to the local Al-Shafar General Contracting (ASGC). The scope of this contract involves the overhaul of the systems serving the concourse, such as the baggage-handling areas. The package involves increasing the number of A380 gates from 13 to 47 as well as the deployment of new technologies to optimise the airports operations. Concourse C serves international airlines.
In comparison, Al-Maktoum International handled less than half a million passengers in 2015. The airport currently has a capacity to handle up to 5 million passengers a year, expandable to 7 million. An ongoing expansion, aimed to be completed in 2017-18, aims to bring the airports capacity to 26 million passengers annually.
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