Airport operator Abu Dhabi Airports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has revealed that Abu Dhabi International welcomed 2.56 million guests from January to April 2022, an increase of 218% from the 807,310 served during the same period in 2021.
The airport recorded 22,689 flights during the period compared to 16,351 in 2021, an increase of 38.8%. This traffic recovery has been due to resurgent demand, the easing of Covid-19-related travel restrictions around the world, and the introduction of new routes and services.
The top five countries in terms of passenger volumes during the period were India (515,927), Pakistan (253,874), the UK (170,620), Saudi Arabia (137,582) and Egypt (127,009). The busiest destinations being served by Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) during Q1 included London (123,055), Delhi in India (103,472), Islamabad in Pakistan (101,476), Kochi in India (90,022) and Dhaka in Bangladesh (89,272).
The airport also reported that customer service levels also remained high, across a number of metrics including airport cleanliness (98.4%), feeling safe and secure (98.2%), happiness index (96.4%) and health safety (97.4%). The overall satisfaction score as measured by ACI was 91.8%. AUH also received ACI’s Airport Health Accreditation for the second year running in recognition of continued efforts to improve health and safety measures in accordance with international standards. The baggage service over the same period reached a total of 1,737,290 bags that were processed through the airport’s baggage system during the first three months of the year with a delivery success rate of 99.8%.
AUH also handled 144,114 metric tons of air freight during the first quarter, a decline of 15.7% compared to the 170,876 metric tons handled during the same period last year primarily due to the redeployment of cargo capacity to support passenger operations. The airport processed 1,835 metric tons of mail during the period compared to 2,518 metric tons during the January to April period of 2021, down 27.1% for the same reason. Top cargo markets during the period included the Netherlands (12,835 metric tons) and India (12,720 metric tons).
Shareef Hashim Al Hashmi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Airports, said, “The first quarter continued to build on the momentum we saw in Q4 2021 as travel restrictions eased further, markets re-opened and airlines deployed capacity to accommodate the resulting surge in demand. There is no doubt that developments such as the relaxation of travel restrictions to and from India, the re-opening of Australia and Singapore and the removal of mandatory PCR testing for passengers traveling to Abu Dhabi provided further lift.”