Dubai International Airport (DXB) has retained its crown of being the world's busiest international airport in terms of passenger numbers. In 2014, it overtook London's Heathrow airport, which had been number one for more than a decade. DXB handled a record 78 million travellers in 2015. This is an average of one passenger flying in or out every 2.5 seconds. Heathrow handled 75 million passengers but did have more daily flights than DXB. In January 2015, there were over 8,000 weekly flights from DXB, operated by 140 airlines to over 270 destinations on six continents. Dubai's other airport, Al Maktoum International, has a projected annual capacity of up to 250 million passengers.

 

DXB is a vital part of Dubai's economy. Wikipedia says it employs, "approximately 90,000 people, indirectly supports over 400,000 jobs and contributes over $26.7 billion to the economy, which represents around 27 per cent of Dubai's GDP and 21 per cent of the employment in Dubai". The CEO of DXB, Paul Griffiths, said in a statement: "It's another banner year for Dubai International where we broke records, engaged and entertained our customers in new ways, and retained our position as the world's number one international hub." DXB will soon see another landmark when in March, the airline Emirates launches the world's longest non-stop flight, connecting Dubai with Auckland.