The total, which ensured that in remained the biggest in the Asia-Pacific region, represented a 1.5% upturn on the previous year.

The region’s second busiest gateway, Dubai International Airport (DXB), accommodated 88.2 million passengers (+5.5%) to hold on to its title of being the world’s top airport for international passengers.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “It was a very successful year for DXB as we not only achieved robust growth in traffic to solidify our position as the world’s number one international airport but also delighted our customers with a range of new and exciting services and innovative products.“We made passenger journeys through the facility smoother by reducing waiting times – by deploying cutting edge technology to track and manage queues in real time, as well as by enabling the use of Emirates ID at smart gates for UAE residents.

“With passenger traffic expected to reach 90.3 million in 2018, our focus in the new year will be on the DXB Plus programme which aims to expand the airport’s annual capacity to 118 million passengers through process improvements and use of new technology.”

Elsewhere, Tokyo Haneda welcomed close to 80 million passengers, Hong Kong International Airport 72.9 million (3.3%), while Singapore Changi handled an all-time high of 62.2 million (6%).

| An AirportWorld release  ||  february 27, 2018  |||