Abu Dhabi Airports announced that they had a year of solid growth in 2014, setting new annual records in passenger figures, aircraft and freight traffic. Figures for the month of December 2014 show that the airport ended the year on a high note.
In 2014, the airport welcomed around 20 million inbound, outbound and transfer passengers, representing an annual growth of 20% - the highest ever in Abu Dhabi International Airport’s history. The airport handled 154,821 traffic movements, up 14.5% compared to last year. Cargo throughput rose 12.8% year on year, reaching 797,069 million tons.
In 2014 two new airlines joined Abu Dhabi International Airport; the Greek Aegean Airline and Nikki Airways from Austria, and a further 12 new destinations were added during the year. The top five destinations from Abu Dhabi were India, Germany, United Kingdom, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
In December’14, passenger traffic was up 21.7% with 1,833,868 million travelers compared to December 2013. December was the airport’s second busiest month of the year following August 2014.
Last year saw the production of 20 new bus gates, 21 new code E aircraft stands for wide-bodied aircraft, and 16 new security x-ray machines to expand the current flight and aircraft handling capacity. An additional enhanced baggage transfer system has also been introduced for handling transfer luggage between connecting flights, which enable the airport to handle the increased volume of passenger luggage significantly more efficiently.
The airport capacity will be boosted further by 30 million passengers when the Midfield Terminal is fully operational in 2017.
