The Dubai International Airport, DXB, welcomed 6.9 million customers in November 2018, bringing the hub’s year to date traffic to 81.4 million passengers.

In a statement issued today by DXB, the Airport said, “The number of customers served was 6,897,169 in November (-0.8%) taking DXB’s year to date numbers to 81,426,428 (+1.3%).”

Baggage volumes of 5.8 million bags (+2.3%) passed through the airport’s 175 km long baggage system during October.

The statement added that wait times were reduced by 45% in November, thanks to the state-of-the-art operations centre at DXB which leverages real-time information to improve service and efficiency while the smart gates help speed customers through immigration.

India remained DXB’s top destination country by customer numbers, with total traffic reaching 1,032,662 during the month. Saudi Arabia climbed one rank to reach the second spot with 509,446 customers, followed by the United Kingdom with 466,459 customers. Other markets of note include the U.S. (235,523 customers) and China (189,466).

The top three cities were London (275,141 customers), Mumbai (221,812) and New Delhi (183,680). With a growth of 6.9%, North America held its position as the fastest growing region, followed closely by Africa at 6.8% and Eastern Europe growing 4.6%.

Flight movements totalled 33,031 (-1.2%) in November while the average number of customers per flight was slightly up at 216 (0.5%).

A total of 373,229 flights have taken-off or landed at DXB (-0.3%) so far this year, bringing the total number of daily flight movements at DXB to 1,120.

In November 237,059 tonnes of airfreight was handled at DXB (+0.6%) bringing the total cargo tonnage for the year to 2,407,050 (-0.8%).