UAE – Mubasher: A total of 41.3 million passengers travelled through the Dubai International Airport (DXB) during the first six months of 2019, according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

The DXB ascribed the decline in the number of passengers partially to the closure of the southern runway for refurbishment, which resulted in a 32% plunge in passengers over 45 days.

“A total of around 1.04 tonnes of airfreight was handled at DXB during the first half this year, down 18.3%.  A significant portion of the cargo traffic at DXB is bellyhold, which was impacted by the southern runway rehabilitation programme,” WAM reported. 

India topped DXB’s destination countries in terms of passenger numbers, recording 5.7 million in H1-19.