In pics: Indians turn Dubai airport into World's busiest international airport in 2018
Served largest number of passengers
Dubai International Airport said it retained its top global spot in 2018 after serving the largest number of passengers for the fifth year in a row despite falling short of its target.
12.28 million Indian passengers
Indians retained the top position with 12.28 million passengers last year and Saudis came in second with 6.47 million travellers, overtaking Britons.
Traffic rises to 89.15 million passengers
Traffic at the major transit hub rose slightly to 89.15 million passengers, up just over 1.0 percent on the number who used the airport in 2017, it said in a statement.
Although the figure is a new record high, it missed on the 90.3 million passengers Dubai airport had projected for 2018.
Dubai's economy faces slowdown
Dubai's non-oil based economy has faced a slowdown in the key real estate and tourism sectors.
In 2017, traffic at the world's busiest airport grew by 4.6 million passengers or 5.5 percent.
Dubai maintaining lead since 2014
Dubai International, the base for Dubai-owned carrier Emirates and its budget airline FlyDubai, overtook London's Heathrow airport in terms of international passengers in 2014 and has maintained its lead since.
Aim to become world’s busiest airport
Dubai airport has previously said it believes it can overtake Atlantic and Beijing airports to become the world’s busiest overall by 2021.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest, handled 98.6 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2018. It has yet to release annual figures.
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