Dubai Airports, the operator of what is now the the busiest international airport in thew world according to figures from global travel data provider OAG, has reported that its outperformed its own 2019 passenger numbers in 2023. In total, Dubai International Airport (DXB) handled 86.9 million passengers last year, 600,000 more than it did in the year immediately before the global pandemic tanked international travel worldwide.
While the UAE’s largest airport and the hub for its most famous air carrier, Emirates Airlines, did not surpass its all-time high of 89.1 million passengers in 2018, it aims to come closer to that record in 2024 by handling 88.8 million passengers in the calendar year.
But as the emirate aims to shift some passenger traffic away from DXB and over to it’s newest airport DWC (Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central), it may not even want to top its 2018 record in order to ease the logistical strain on the more well-known DXB.
Dubai’s tourism arrivals, however, did set a new record in 2023. 17.15 million foreign visitors came to the emirate and stayed at least one night last year, more than the 16.73 million who visited in 2019.
