Dubai overtakes Heathrow as busiest airport in the world
Heathrow has lost its title as the busiest airport in the world for international passenger traffic - to Dubai International Airport.
A total of 68.9 million passengers passed through Dubai International this year compared with 67.8 million at Heathrow as of 22 December.
Speaking to The National, Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of Dubai Airports, said: "Given the traffic achieved in the first 11 months, together with some of the busiest days on record in December, we are confident of ending the year above the 70 million mark and confirming our position as the world's busiest international airport.
"Looking forward to 2015, the prospects remain exceedingly bright and we expect to maintain the growth achieved this year in the next 12 months."
According to the Guardian, figures for November showed that passenger traffic was up 4.3% year on year to five million.
The paper adds that the rise in passengers passing through Dubai International came despite only a single runway being used for 80 days because of a refurbishment scheme.
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