Abu Dhabi airport sees 12.4m passengers in 2011

Abu Dhabi International Airport saw 12.4 million passengers in 2011, nearly 14 percent up on the previous year, its operator has said.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) said cargo traffic was also on the rise recording 481,500 tonnes, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2010.

In December, the airport welcomed over 1.147 million passengers, recording 17.8 percent uplift in total passenger traffic.

This made December the busiest month of the year for the airport and the sixth consecutive month where it recorded more than a million passengers.

The double-digit increase of passenger, aircraft and cargo figures are a result of ADAC's ongoing investment in improving facilities, it said in a statement.

2011 saw the addition of the joining of leading airline companies to its network airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Virgin Australia, and Czech Airlines, joining the airport's network.

Eight new destinations were added including Hong Kong, Prague, Seychelles, Male, Dusseldorf, Bangalore, Chengdu and Aleppo.

The scheduled charter market also saw considerable growth, especially with the launch of the MSC cruises out of Abu Dhabi, ADAC added.

James E Bennett, CEO of ADAC, said: "The continuous increase of Abu Dhabi International Airport's passenger traffic shows a true reflection of the growth that the emirate is witnessing in trade, industry and tourism, and illustrates the significant investment and vision by ADAC in creating a world class airport."

He added: "ADAC is striving to become one of the top airport operators in the world by carrying out more improvements and developments at the airport."

The top 10 routes from Abu Dhabi International Airports during 2011 were London Heathrow, Doha, Bangkok, Manila, Jeddah, Sydney, Cairo, Frankfurt, Bahrain and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Currently under way is a multi-billion dollar re-development and expansion of Abu Dhabi International Airport designed to increase the overall capacity to more than 30 million passengers per year.

As part of this redevelopment, a second runway and a third terminal have been completed.