Dubai International recorded its second busiest month ever in July, according to the monthly traffic report issued by operator Dubai Airports. The airport clocked more than eight million passengers for the month, as it had already done in January 2018 (8.03 m) and in July (8.06 m) and August (8.23 m) of the previous year.

Passenger numbers in July totalled 8,207,987, up 1.8% compared to the 8,065,789 recorded in July 2017. Year-to-date passenger traffic reached 51,947,092 — up 1.6% compared to the first seven months of 2017.

In terms of growth rate, Eastern Europe was the fastest growing region in July with traffic surging 24.4%, mainly fueled by flydubai’s route development plan, followed by CIS (+18.34%) with major contributions from the Russian market and destinations such as Bishkek, Baku and Almaty among others, and Africa (+9.7%).

India retained its position as the top destination country with 1,032,302 passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia (583,975 passengers) and the UK (581,557 passengers). London, with 358,201 passengers, topped the list of the most popular destinations served from DXB by traffic volume in July, followed by Kuwait (221,696), Mumbai (209,205) and Riyadh (200,411).

Flight movements during July reached 35,393, up 3.5% from July 2017. Year-to-date flight movements totalled 237,177 — down 1.2% compared to the same period in 2017. Passengers per movement remained high at 238, but registered a contraction of 2.1% compared to the record high of 243 recorded in July 2017.

Dubai International also recorded robust growth in cargo in July with volumes totaling 223,488 tonnes (+4.8%). Year-to-date cargo volumes were down 1.6%.