Dubai International Airport (DXB) has retained its title as the world’s busiest airport for international travel with a steep 12% rise in traffic compared to 2020.

After stringent lockdowns and restrictions in 2020, footfall at the airport rose to over 29 million passengers who travelled internationally in 2021. The airport recorded nearly 26 million international travellers in 2020. While the present milestone seems fairly impressive, it is far from the pre-pandemic annual record of 86.4 million passengers at DXB in 2019.

The surge in international passengers in 2021 can be attributed to Dubai’s ongoing Expo 2020. Earlier scheduled for 2020, the expo was postponed by a year due to the pandemic.

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Dubai International Airport has amassed millions of tourists flying in from across the globe. The airport’s key market consists of passengers from India and Pakistan.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, predicts a figure of 57 million passengers this year and a complete recovery of pre-pandemic figures by 2024.

“Dubai has done such a good job in reassuring travellers. It’s a safe city to visit and to come and holiday and do business. So I think the actual trends to recovery are very encouraging, indeed,” Griffiths said.

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“What we’re now trying to do is campaign globally for the relaxation of travel restrictions and testing. But we now see the requirement for that is receding. We just need to get governments to recognize that fact and act quickly to remove the remaining travel restrictions,” he added.

The milestone marks DXB’s eighth consecutive year as the epicentre of the world’s busiest international travel, surpassing Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and London’s Heathrow Airport.