The metro cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore emerged as the top destinations for travel to Dubai, making India as the topmost market accounting for nearly 6.84 million air passengers travelling last year.
Dubai Airports (DA), which owns and manages the operations and development of the two airports in Dubai, said the maximum number of people travelled on the Mumbai-Dubai route, followed by those from Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Estimating a major growth in overall passenger traffic, Dubai Airports said traffic to Dubai International reached a historic 50.9 million in 2011 and is projected to cross 56.5 million by this year end, making it the world's fourth busiest airport for international passengers.
Seven airlines, including five from India, were operating into the two airports in Dubai -- Dubai International and Dubai World Central (DWC) -- from as many as 17 Indian cities.
“For us, Kerala and its cities provide tremendous opportunity in case of travel by air passengers,’’ said the DA spokesperson.
Dubai Airport is also in the process of developing a new dedicated concourse ‘A’ within the present space.
This new facility will be totally dedicated to accommodate Airbus 380 and Boeing 777 types of aircraft and will be used by Emirates and after some time by Australian airline Qantas. The new facility is part of its expansion project at the cost of $ 7.8 billion.
