Passenger traffic at the world’s number one airport for international traffic registered a year on year increase of 8.1 percent in November 2015, according to the monthly traffic report issued today by operator, Dubai Airports.

The airport welcomed a total of 6,013,911 passengers during the month under review, up 8.1 percent compared to 5,565,509 recorded in November 2014. The year to date traffic in November totalled 70,961,598 passengers compared with 63,977,063 recorded during the period under review, a healthy increase of 10.9 percent.

In November, the Indian subcontinent recorded the largest increase in total passenger numbers (+160,647 passengers) spurred by growth in traffic and launch of new flights including SpiceJet’s services to Kozhikode and Amritsar, followed by the GCC (+129,210), Western Europe (+65,198), and North America (+58,314).

The strongest markets in terms of percentage growth were Eastern Europe (+29.7 percent), North America (+27.7 percent) driven mainly by Emirates’ expanding network to destinations in the US, and the GCC (16.9 percent) with Muscat, Doha and Jeddah topping the destinations with highest growth during the month.

Aircraft movements in November increased by 4.2 percent to 33,787 from 32,424 recorded during the same month in 2014. The year to date movements totalled 371,103 in November 2015, a robust growth of 13.8 percent from 323,203 recorded during the first 11 months of 2014.

Dubai International handled 218,323 tonnes of cargo in November, an increase of 3.8 percent compared to 210,251 tonnes recorded during the same month in 2014. The year to date freight volumes reached 2,287,167 tonnes compared to 2,217,135 tonnes handled during the corresponding period in 2014, an increase of 3.2 percent.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said, "We are very pleased with the growth in passenger traffic at DXB in 2015 during which the airport registered an average monthly traffic of nearly 6.5 million customers. We are sure the seasonal peaks that we experienced in December will help round off the year with an impressive annual figure."