The FINANCIAL — Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released on September 27 the August 2009 traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport, which show a 12.4 per cent increase in aircraft movements, a 6.2 per cent increase in cargo and a 2.5 per cent increase in total passenger movement.
"The double digit growth in aircraft movement can be attributed to the significant number of new airlines establishing routes from Abu Dhabi in the previous 12 months, as well as established carriers launching new routes, including Etihad’s new routes to Athens, Istanbul and Larnaca. Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has also launched service between Chicago and its hub at Abu Dhabi. It is Etihad's third destination in North America after New York and Toronto and will be operated with an Airbus A340," Gulf News informed.
India remained the airport’s largest market with an overall increase in passenger traffic of 8.0 per cent, whilst Pakistan came second. The UK was the airport’s third largest market for the month, leaving Saudi Arabia in fourth place. Passenger traffic to Australia continued to increase rapidly due to the new Athens-Melbourne connectivity, and became the fifth busiest country destination with a 141 per cent increase over August 2008.
The top five destinations recorded a total of 200,607 passengers, with London in the top spot with 51,757 passengers. Bangkok took second place with 38,828 passengers, whilst Bahrain, Doha and Cairo came in third, fourth and fifth respectively with a total of 101,314 passengers.
The 2nd of August 2009 was the busiest day of the month, recording a total number of 32,090 arriving, departing and transit passengers. The daily average was 28,760 for the month.
Discussion about this post