Abu Dhabi Airport records a 7.3% increase in passenger numbers in 2009

•9.7m passengers served in 2009

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 31 January 2010: Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) released its full year traffic figures for Abu Dhabi International Airport today, with passenger numbers showing a solid 7.3% growth rate throughout 2009 reaching 9.7 million for the year.  Abu Dhabi International Airport is one of the few aviation hubs in the world to have achieved a healthy growth, while it has considerably outperformed the negative global average (-3.0%).
 
Cargo traffic also demonstrated a robust increase of 7.0%, while total flights amounted to 102,118, up 9.6% on last year.

In 2009, Abu Dhabi International Airport offered direct scheduled services to 80 destinations in 46 countries and also welcomed eight new airlines. Etihad continued to be the key contributor to the airport’s growth introducing new routes and additional frequencies.  During the past year a total of 14 new destinations were added to ADAC’s network.

In terms of the most popular city destinations out of Abu Dhabi for 2009, London (Heathrow) was number one, followed by Bangkok, Doha, Bahrain and Cairo.
   
H.E. Khalifa Al Mazrouei, Chairman of ADAC said:
“Despite the adverse global economic climate and the consolidation observed in the aviation industry during 2009, Abu Dhabi International has proven to be a resilient airport operation, with solid growth in both passenger and cargo traffic numbers demonstrating this.
 

“ADAC will continue to work hard to grow its business in cooperation with its key customers and stakeholders. The management and staff would like to express its warmest appreciation to all its partners for their contribution to another year of strong growth and excellent customer service at Abu Dhabi International Airport.”

Abu Dhabi International Airport Traffic Results December, 2009
This report summarises the traffic results for Abu Dhabi International Airport for the month of December 2009, and for the last 12 months – all compared to their equivalent period of the previous year.  The route traffic section shows a comparison to the last three years. 

Traffic Month of December        Full Year                        

 

2009

2008

% Var

2009

2008

% Var

Passengers (000)

878

819

7.3

9,672

9,017

7.3

Aircraft movements

8,942

7,993

11.9

102,118

93,163

9.6

Cargo (tons)

32,692

26,484

23.4

378,746

353,820

7.0

2009 TRAFFIC HIGHLIGHTS

  • Total Passenger recorded during the year 9,672,694 compared to 9,016,900 in the year 2008 with an increase of 7.3 %.
  • July was the busiest month in the airport’s history recording a 923,124 passengers.

8 new airlines started services to Abu Dhabi in 2009:

  1. Air Asia X
  2. Bahrain Air
  3. Elite Aviation
  4. Jat Airlines
  5. Jazeera Airways
  6. Safi Airways
  7. Sun Air
  8. Ukraine International Air

14 new destinations in 2009:  

  1. Amritsar, India
  2. Astana, Kazakhstan
  3. Athens, Greece
  4. Belgrade, Serbia
  5. Berlin, Germany
  6. Cape Town, South Africa
  7. Chicago, USA
  8. Dusseldorf, Germany
  9. Hyderabad, Pakistan
  10. Kabul, Afghanistan
  11. Kiev, Ukraine
  12. Larnaca, Cyprus
  13. Melbourne, Australia
  14. Tiruchirappalli, India

Top 5 airlines (by passenger numbers) at AUH in 2009:

  1. Etihad Airways
  2. Air India Express
  3. Qatar Airways
  4. Gulf Air
  5. Pakistan International Airways

Top 5 city destinations (by passenger numbers) from Abu Dhabi in 2009:

  1. London (Heathrow), UK
  2. Bangkok, Thailand
  3. Doha, Qatar
  4. Manama, Bahrain
  5. Cairo, Egypt