Abu Dhabi International Airport overall passenger traffic last March increased 7.9 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, with a daily average of 24,833 passengers, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) said on Saturday. Aircraft movements also increased by 4.5 percent. For the first time, London has taken the top position as Abu Dhabi's busiest route, with Doha coming a close second. Bangkok ranked third in spite of the recent political unrest, whilst Cairo came in fourth place. Bahrain was the airport's fifth busiest destination for the month, boosted by the arrival of Bahrain Air on March 30 at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The Indian subcontinent saw the strongest growth, driven by Etihad's growing capacity to South India and increased weekly frequencies. Traffic to and from India increased by 32 percent whilst Pakistan traffic grew 12.7 percent, making it the largest and second largest markets respectively. The UK remains Abu Dhabi's third largest market with The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a close fourth. Strong traffic growth was also registered for Lebanon, up 20.7 percent. Mohammed Al Bulooki, vice president of Airline Marketing and Aeronautical Revenue, said: “We are happy to say our passenger figures are still growing. Naturally, attracting new airlines contributes to this growth, however we believe the excitement and interest in Abu Dhabi that exists within international markets drives a large part of the growth. With many exciting new developments to look forward to and with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) predicting an increase in capacity for tourism, with 4,000 new hotel rooms coming online in 2009, we expect Abu Dhabi's popularity as a destination for commerce and tourism to continue to increase. All of this contributes to our expansion plan to increase capacity and improve our facilities at Abu Dhabi International Airport.” Mail volumes increased by a massive 39.9 percent, led by the increase in mail volume to the US and Australia, and cargo movements made a modest increase of 2 percent in March. ADAC is a public joint-stock company wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government. It was incorporated by Amiri Decree number 5, issued on 4 March 2006, to spearhead the development of the Emirate's aviation infrastructure. In September 2006, ADAC took over responsibility for the operation and management of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain international Airports. In 2008, ADAC added Al Bateen private jet airport. __
