Dubai International marked its busiest ever August, boosted by passengers from India, Saudi and the UK.
Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, said 8.37 million passengers passed through the hub, surpassing the airport's former record of 8.23 million in August 2017.
August marks the second consecutive month that the hub has crossed the 8 million customer mark, setting operating company Dubai Airports up for a strong third quarter.
DXB’s average monthly traffic this year is 7.5 million. That’s 1.2 million more than its closest rival London Heathrow, at 6.29 million.
August is particularly busy given the number of Hajj pilgrims passing through and the many families returning to the UAE after the summer break.
“It’s another milestone for Dubai Airports as we continue to break records and set the bar even higher," Mr Griffiths said on Wednesday.
"While the numbers speak volumes about our growth, our aim is to continue pushing the boundaries on experience and provide customers with the best possible service. We are making progress on that front as well with shorter queue times, world-leading F&B and retail and other touches like spas, swimming pools and trampolines that help us stand out from the crowd.”
In numbers
Customers served: 8,376,478 in August (+ 1.7 per cent) which boosted DXB’s year to date numbers to 60,323,570 (+ 1.6 per cent).
Baggage volumes: 7.2 million bags (+5.9 per cent) passed through the airport’s 175 km long baggage system.
Queue times: Despite high volumes, queue times dropped 44 per cent in August thanks to Smart Gate technology, which speeds customers through immigration
Top destinations
India remained DXB's top destination country by customer volumes, with total traffic reaching 1,012,124 during the month. Saudi Arabia was second with 613,618 passengers, followed by the UK with 603,531. Other markets of note include US (306,701 passengers) and China (215,211).
The top three cities were London (371,574 paseengers), Kuwait (272,607) and Mumbai (210,820).
The fastest growing regions were Eastern Europe up by 25.7 per cent, the central Asian states up 14.8 per cent and Africa growing 11.2 per cent.
Flights
The average number of customers per flight remained high at 243 but was down slightly (-1.6 per cent).
So far this year, 272,600 flights have taken-off or landed at DXB (-0.7 per cent).
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Who inspires you?
I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist
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Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times
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Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki
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Mamma Mia
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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