Abu Dhabi Airports has announced that its passenger traffic at the five airports it manages in the emirate reached nearly 6.3 million in the first half of this year.
Passenger numbers at Abu Dhabi International, Al Ain International, Al Bateen Executive, Delma and Sir Bani Yas Island stood at 6,299,725 during H1 2022.
These five airports combined also recorded 94,538 flights over the same period, according to state run news agency WAM.
At Abu Dhabi International (AUH) alone, the emirate’s largest airport, the number of scheduled passenger flights increased by 94 per cent compared to the first half of 2021.
AUH is connected to 101 scheduled passenger destinations served by 23 airlines, compared to 76 destinations by 19 airlines over the same period last year.
The top five countries in terms of passenger volumes at AUH during H1 2022 were India (1,280,000), Pakistan (485,000), UK (374,000), Saud Arabia (333,000) and Egypt (283,000). Meanwhile, the top five destination airports were London Heathrow (276,000), Delhi (225,000), Mumbai (221,000), Cochin (217,000) and Cairo (203,000).
Abu Dhabi International also handled 297,549 tonnes of air freight during the first half of the year.
“The resumption of regional and global markets and successful efforts of airlines to accommodate demands safely and effectively, have been instrumental to achieving these figures. Looking ahead, our aim is to continue building on this success throughout the second half of 2022,” said Shareef Hashim Al Hashmi, chief executive officer at Abu Dhabi Airports.
Abu Dhabi’s neighbouring emirate of Dubai meanwhile revealed earlier this month that Dubai International’s (DXB) half yearly traffic reached 27.9 million passengers, only 1.2 million shy of the airport’s total annual traffic last year. DXB recorded 14.2 million passengers in the second quarter of 2022, a year-on-year jump of 190.6 per cent.
