Abu Dhabi International Airport records 12.4% growth in August

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.

India remained the airport's largest market with an overall increase in passenger traffic of 8.0%, 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% 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. Cargo increased 6.2%, largely due to new services by Maximus and China Airlines.

Ahmed Al Haddabi, Senior Vice President, Airport Operations, ADAC, commented:

"In this challenging time for the aviation industry, Abu Dhabi International Airport is still seeing positive growth, route developments, and increasing cargo loads. In spite of the current global slowdown in air transport, the strength of our economy and the commercial fundamentals of the Abu Dhabi market have ensured increasing demand."

"We continue to nurture our strong airline partnerships as well as making enhancements and improvements to the quality of our passengers' experience, such as our extensive free internet stations and our self service check in kiosks. The work we are doing now will cement our position as an airport of choice for both airlines and passengers in the near future," he added.