Abu Dhabi International Airport saw passenger traffic jump 14.9% in May, boosted by flights to Italy after the emirate's flagship carrier Etihad Airways bought Alitalia. Trips to the U.S. also helped to drive gains.
The number of passengers passing through Abu Dhabi airport rose to 1,877,440 in May compared with 1,633,700 in the same month last year, the airport said. The number of passengers being ferried to Italy leapt 166.5% in May to more than 50,000 passengers, while passengers coming to and from the U.S. rose to 106,000, a 49% increase from May 2014.
Meanwhile, the number of aircraft moving in and out of the airport rose 13.9 percent to 14,725 in May from 12,931 in the same month last year.
The airport's main growth drivers of late include increased activity by airberlin, Jet Airways and Air Seychelles, and the addition of four new routes by Etihad and Alitalia to Madrid, Venice, Pune in India and Entebbe in Uganda. The number of Umrah flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia are also on the rise.
In April, the top five routes from Abu Dhabi International Airport were London Heathrow, Bangkok, Manila, Doha and Mumbai, accounting for 16% of all traffic.
Last month, Abu Dhabi Airports said it expected to handle 22 percent more flights this summer, with more than 1,500 flights a week planned between this month and September.
The airport operator is in the middle of building the US$3 billion Midfield Terminal building. Upon its completion, scheduled in July 2017, it will boost capacity at the airport to 30 million passengers a year.