Dubai International is moving to maintain its position as the largest airport in the world

Preliminary data showed that Dubai International Airport is heading to maintain its position as the largest airport in the world during the year 2024, in terms of the number of international passengers, for the 11th year in a row, after it continued over the past year to record strong growth rates in international travel traffic, compared to its counterparts in List of the largest airports in the world, according to data monitored by Emirates Today.

Dubai Airports, which is responsible for operating, managing and developing both Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), expects that the total annual passenger traffic during the past year (2024) will reach 91.9 million passengers. This is the highest number in the airport’s 64-year history, after Dubai International achieved record growth in the number of passengers during the first nine months of 2024, with 68.6 million passengers received.

Dubai Airports is expected to reveal the numbers for the past year 2024 as a whole during the next few days.

Preliminary data indicate that Dubai International leads the world’s airports in passenger traffic, after the major international airports announced the numbers of their international and local passengers during the year 2024, and the British “London Heathrow” Airport (ranked in second place on the World Airports Council’s list) dealt with… About 79 million international passengers during 2024 as a whole, while Amsterdam Dutch Airport (ranked third) recorded about 66.8 million international passengers.

In turn, the French “Paris Charles de Gaulle” airport recorded, during the year 2024, about 70 million international passengers, the Singapore Airport 67.7 million international passengers, and the Turkish Istanbul Airport about 62.9 million passengers, for local and international passenger traffic, according to official announcements issued by those airports.

As for passenger traffic at Incheon Airport in South Korea (ranked fifth on the Airports Council International list), during the year 2024, it recorded about 70 million passengers.

According to the data, Dubai International will top the list of the world’s largest airports in international passenger traffic, with a large difference, compared to London Heathrow Airport, which is ranked second, and other major airports in the annual list that is expected to be issued by the International Airports Council during the coming period.

Dubai International Airport expects to receive 23.2 million passengers in the last quarter of 2024, a period that witnesses a peak in direct traffic, driven by the return of expatriates to their home countries to spend the holiday season, in addition to the movement of visitors to Dubai to enjoy the winter activities in the country.

Dubai International also achieved a strong performance in the third quarter of 2024, receiving 23.7 million passengers, bringing the total number of passengers during the first nine months of last year to 68.6 million passengers, a noticeable increase of 6.3% compared to the same period in 2023.

It is noteworthy that Dubai International Airport displaced its counterpart, London Heathrow, from first place in the number of international passengers in 2014, for the first time in history, after the British airport maintained the lead since the beginning of commercial air transport activity in the world.

• Preliminary data shows that Dubai International outperforms its counterparts by a large margin in the number of international passengers.