Dubai airport crosses 5 million mark; Emirates-Qantas deal could be big boost

Dubai International airport began the second half of 2012 on a strong note by surpassing the five million passenger mark in July for the first time in its history. The previous high for monthly traffic at Dubai International was 4.85 million passengers recorded in January this year. According to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports, Dubai International handled a total of 5,006,155 passengers in July compared to 4,724,109 in the same month last year, reflecting an increase of six per cent. The airport's year-to date traffic reached at 32,937,794, up 12.4 per cent over the 29,291,927 recorded in the corresponding period last year. "This is yet another record for Dubai International and one that we had anticipated based on the growth trends in the first half of the year. Since 2009 average monthly tra