Dubai Airports is aiming to boost passenger volumes by more than 100 per cent over 10 years.

Airport news for Flights,Heathrow on 05/05/2011.

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On Tuesday, Dubai Airports announced plans to increase passenger traffic by more than 100 per cent to 98.5 million by 2020. By 2015, Dubai International should be the busiest airport on Earth for international passenger traffic.

Dubai International is already the busiest airport located in the Middle East. Within five years, it should be seeing more than 75 million travellers a year.

Passengers will have to wait another year until Dubai’s second airport is open. However, the volume of international passengers using the new Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International airport and Dubai International, is expected to increase by 7.2 per cent a year, according to Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths.

Last year, Dubai handled 47.2 million passengers. Freight volume through Dubai airports should expand by 6.7 per cent annually between now and 2020, hitting 4.1 million tonnes.

Freight operations started at DWC-Al Maktoum International last year. Passenger services will start next year. When it is finished, the new airport is forecast to be the largest in the world, with capacity for up to 160 million passengers a year.

Dubai has now become one of the top-rank cities in the world with two international airports. The new airport is being used by 19 cargo airlines.

Over the last 12 months, Dubai airport was the world’s fourth busiest based on international passenger traffic. Heathrow saw 62 million international passengers.

Paris Charles de Gaulle handled 53 million. Hong Kong, which saw 50 million international passengers, was the third-busiest.

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