DUBAI: Pakistan has become one of the top countries with the highest number of travellers to Dubai International Airport in 2020.
According to a report, Dubai received 25.9 million passengers in 2020 despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The passenger numbers were down by 70 per cent from 2019, when it received 86.4 million visitors.
Dubai was the world’s fourth-busiest airport in 2019. India remained the top destination country with 4.3 million passengers, followed by the United Kingdom at 1.89 million, Pakistan at 1.86 million, and Saudi Arabia at 1.45 million. Meanwhile, the top three cities were London at 1.15 million passengers, Mumbai at 772,000 and New Delhi at 722,000.
“During 2020, we experienced challenges never before seen in the travel industry… Despite these challenges, we emerged at the end of 2020 with 25.9 million passengers passing through our airports,” said CEO Paul Griffith.
“We remain optimistic that, in future, we will recover to former levels of traffic we enjoyed in 2019. Through these challenging times, one of the most important qualities is strength and resilience,” he said in a statement.
READ MORE: Dubai-based painter sets world record for largest art canvas
He said recovering the confidence of the travelling public is a major initiative that Dubai Airports must ceaselessly pursue. “It is incredibly important to regain the confidence of every individual traveller so they see the combination of the airlines that we serve and the airports that we operate as safe places for people to travel through towards their destinations,” he said.
Dubai handled 183,993 flights in 2020, down 51.4 per cent, while the average number of passengers per flights fell 20.3 per cent to 188. The airport handled 1.9 million tonnes of cargo, down 23.2 per cent year on year.
Paul Griffith noted 2021 is going to be a difficult year and there are many challenges ahead but expressed confidence of a steady but optimistic outlook.
