Abu Dhabi International traffic still growing

TRANSIT PASSENGERS: The English cricket team were high profile recent airport users. (Getty Images)

Abu Dhabi airport is still attracting high passenger numbers despite the general aviation industry downturn, the hub announced on Tuesday.

Figures released by Abu Dhabi International Airport show air traveller volumes for the year to November 30 climbed 32.3 percent to more than 8.9 million compared with 2007.

In November alone, the airport handled 27.4 percent more passengers than the same period last year.

The UAE National Day and Eid Al-Adha contributed to the traffic increase in recent months.

During the Haj period, the airport handled 14,784 pilgrims, boosting passenger traffic to Saudi Arabia by 34.5 percent. The Kingdom was the third most served market from Abu Dhabi in November.

"The continued growth of the airport’s home airline, Etihad Airways, the National Airline of the UAE, continues to be a significant driver in growing passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International as well as increasing our efforts to increase frequencies and routes with other airlines," said Rudy Vercelli, CEO of Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC).

"While we have welcomed six new airlines to Abu Dhabi airports in this calendar year alone, we are also working closely with existing partner airlines - most recently, Singapore Airlines has announced an increase to a daily service between Abu Dhabi and Singapore, from March next year."

In November, Bangkok was one of the top five destinations for passengers travelling to and from Abu Dhabi - despite recent airport closures in Thailand’s capital due to political unrest. The other four were Doha, London, Cairo and Bahrain.

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