Dubai Soars Above Heathrow In Passenger Race

Heathrow Airport has expressed frustration after losing its crown as the world's busiest hub to Dubai International.

Dubai's airport operator released figures showing that 70.5 million international passengers streamed through the rapidly expanding airport last year - a 6% rise on the 66.4 million recorded in 2013.

The rapid growth puts Dubai - the main hub airport in the Gulf - squarely ahead of Heathrow for the first time.

Heathrow reported earlier this month that it handled 73.4 million people in 2014 but just 68.1 million of them were international passengers.

A spokesman said Dubai's growth demonstrated the need for Heathrow to be granted clearance for a third runway in its battle for expansion with Gatwick .

The findings of the Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, are due to be made public after the General Election.

A Heathrow spokesman said: "Britain has benefited from being home to the world’s largest port or airport for the last 350 years.

"But lack of capacity at Heathrow means we have inevitably lost our crown to Dubai.

"This highlights the pressing need to get on and expand our own hub, Heathrow, so that we can connect the whole of the UK to global growth."

Dubai's growth has been fuelled by its attractive global position between Asia and Europe and the surge in operations by its flag carrier, Emirates, which is now the world's biggest international airline.

Dubai's new al Maktoum International Airport - named after the ruling family - is also expanding at a rate of knots and has boasted it could potentially handle 200 million passengers a year in future.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US remains the planet's busiest passenger airport overall.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports, said: "The shared goal is to make Dubai a global centre of aviation.

"We are nearing that goal thanks to an open skies policy, a friendly business environment, Dubai’s growing attractiveness as a centre for trade, commerce and tourism, growing network connectivity due to the rapid expansion of Emirates and flydubai and timely investment in aviation infrastructure."

Chief executive Paul Griffiths added: "Much like 2014, 2015 promises to be another eventful year featuring more record passenger numbers and facility upgrades including the opening of Concourse D which will boost Dubai International’s capacity to 90 million."