Double-digit growth in passenger traffic in June enabled Dubai International airport to offset a lacklustre performance for most of the first half of 2018.

According to Dubai Airports, Dubai International handled 6,795,492 passengers in June, up 11.7 per cent compared to June last year. This brought the total number of passengers passing through the airport to more than 43.7 million, some 1.6 per cent higher compared to the figure reported a year ago.

All major markets, led by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), registered robust growth during June. The CIS’ 50.6 per cent growth was followed by Eastern Europe (33.6 per cent), Africa (20 per cent) and North America (16.9 per cent).

In terms of passenger volume, India was the top destination country during the month with 968,931 passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (504,968), the UK (454,477), Pakistan (349,633) and the US (291,391), according to a statement from Dubai Airports.

Flight movements in June increased 6.4 per cent to reach 32,805, taking the year to date flight movements down by 2 per cent to 201,784.

Cargo volumes in June reached 214,612 tonnes, down 0.5 per cent over the previous year. The year to date cargo totaled 1,268,161 tonnes, compared to 1,302,911 tonnes, down 2.7 per cent.

Dubai Airports expects to cut capacity when it closes one of its two runways for 45 days between 16 April and 30 May 2019 for the resurfacing and replacement of ground lighting and other infrastructure.