DUBAI – Dubai International Airport saw passenger traffic surge 17 percent in January, the eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth and its busiest month on record, its operator said on Tuesday.

Dubai International saw 3.86 million passengers pass through the airport during the month, compared to 3.3 million in the year-earlier period, Dubai Airports Co said in a statement.

Passenger traffic in January broke the previous record of 3.81 million set in December last year, the operator said.

“Dubai is on the leading edge of a rebound in global air traffic,” Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said in the statement.

Cargo volumes surged 31.5 percent to 171,453 tonnes in January compared to 130,375 tonnes during the same month last year, the fourth consecutive month of double-digit growth, Dubai Airports said.

Dubai International handled 40.9 million passengers in 2009, up 9.2 percent on the previous year, while cargo volumes reached 1.93 million tonnes, a rise of 5.6 percent on 2008.

Dubai Airports is projecting the airport’s passenger traffic will grow 13.6 percent this year to about 46 million passengers.

Source: business.maktoob.com