Dubai airport has been shown to be the world’s busiest, kicking Heathrow from the top spot.
Dubai International handled 69.9 million international passengers last year. The gain in numbers was due in part to an increase in long-haul flights to Asia.
Heathrow dealt with 68.1 million during the same period, according to data from the Airports Council International.
But Heathrow is still in the lead for overall passenger numbers when domestic flights are included. This brings the number of 73.4 million who travelled through Heathrow, as against Dubai’s 70.5 million.
Emirates, the Middle East's largest carrier, is based at Dubai International. It, along with Abu Dhabi's Etihad and Qatar Airways, have snapped up many passengers heading from the west to Asia and Australia.
The airport is bumping up its annual capacity further to 90 million this year.
Dubai's other airport, Al-Maktoum International, began passenger operations in 2013 and will be able to handle 120 million when completed in 2022. This would be 40 million more than Heathrow’s current maximum. Eventually the two could cater for 240 million passengers a year.
It was in 2008 that British Airways’ Willie Walsh warned that Dubai was planning to become a major hub which would bypass Europe.
A spokesperson for Heathrow said, "Britain has benefited from being home to the world’s largest port or airport for the last 350 years. But lack of capacity at Heathrow means we have inevitably lost our crown to Dubai. This highlights the pressing need to get on and expand our own hub, Heathrow, so that we can connect the whole of the UK to global growth,"
Comments
Dubai cannot bypass Europe. It may have a bigger airport, but the passengers at its airport also need destinations, which must be in other countries and other continents. Like Heathrow and Gatwick in Britain. Not forgetting Stansted and Luton.
What is needed in Britain is effective leadership to create a national plan for these four international airports around London. The argument that bigger is better is no longer effective.