Abu Dhabi airport emerges as regional hub of civil aviation

ABU DHABI (Xinhua) - The international airport of the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Saturday it recorded in 2014 a 20 percent year on year growth by counting 20 million passengers when comparing with 2013, local UAE daily Gulf News reported.

The airport registered a total of 154,821 traffic movements, representing an increase of up 14.5 percent year on year. The cargo throughput, on the other hand, climbed 12.8 percent by hitting 797,069 million tons.

The report said the development has lifted Abu Dhabi's profile as an emerging global hub of civil aviation.

The figures for 2014 are lower than Abu Dhabi's neighbouring international airport in Dubai which recorded in the first nine months last year 52 million passengers, up six percent year on year, of which 90 percent use Dubai as a hub to continue travelling to another destination by plane.

Abu Dhabi currently expands its airport by constructing a new "midfield" terminal for $2.94 billion which is planned to increase the hub's capacity to 30 million passengers a year. The expansion is set to be completed by mid-2017.

The UAE airports benefit from the Gulf state's strategic location between the continents as from the UAE, passengers fly in 8 hours to Beijing, 8 hours to London and 8 hours to Johannesburg in South Africa.