Dubai Sees Airport Passenger Numbers Slump 80% in 2020

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An Airbus SE A380-800 aircraft, operated by Emirates, taxis past the terminal at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, March 23, 2020. Dubai-based Emirates, the largest long-haul airline, and neighbor Etihad of Abu Dhabi will stop flying passengers for two weeks from Wednesday because of local restrictions. Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg
An Airbus SE A380-800 aircraft, operated by Emirates, taxis past the terminal at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, March 23, 2020. Dubai-based Emirates, the largest long-haul airline, and neighbor Etihad of Abu Dhabi will stop flying passengers for two weeks from Wednesday because of local restrictions. Photographer: Christopher Pike/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Passenger traffic through Dubai Airports in 2020 fell by almost 80% from the year before, as travel restrictions imposed due the coronavirus hammered tourism.

The number of people passing through through the airport was 17.9 million last year, according to the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai. That’s down from 86.4 million in 2019, when the hub was the world’s busiest.

While several European nations shut their airports again after the emergence of a new strain of the virus, Dubai has kept its borders open to all tourists since July.

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