UAE experiences another increase in air traffic

UAE saw 350,000 aircraft movements in the first half of this year, new figures show - an 8.25 per cent increase on the same period in 2010.

The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) announced that 337,497 air traffic movements were recorded in the first six months of 2011, compared to 311,803 movements in the same period last year.

GCAA general director Saif Al Suwaidi said the increase was testament to the “huge efforts” the country has gone to in order to provide the “best environment” for civil aviation.

The GCAA also released the latest figures for June, which showed a total of 56,291 aircraft movements – up 8.2 per cent on the same month in 2010.

The new figures show the average daily movement of aircraft in the UAE in June was 1876 movements per day. This represents an increase of 8.1% in comparison to an average of 1735 daily movements in June 2010.

Dubai ranked first in terms of the number of June air traffic movements, with a total of 24,974, or 44.4 per cent of the total air traffic in the UAE. Flights passing through UAE airspace came second with 12,457 movements, or 22.1 per cent of the total, while Abu Dhabi came third with 8,205 movements - or 14.6 per cent of the total UAE air traffic movements.