Dubai International Airport's monthly passenger numbers dropped in November, leaving the world's busiest airport for international travellers needing a record month to meet its full-year target. The number of passengers using the airport fell 0.8 percent to 6.9 million in November, said operator Dubai Airports on Sunday. For the first 11 months of the year, 81.4 million passengers have used the airport, up 1.3 percent.

That means the airport needs a record 8.9 million passengers in December to meet its previously stated full-year target of 90.3 million. The highest number of passengers to travel through Dubai airport in a single month was 8.37 million in August 2018. Dubai airport, the hub for airlines Emirates and flydubai, has seen the rate of passenger traffic growth slow this year after 15 years of strong increases. Cargo handled in November increased 0.6 percent to 237,059 tonnes, said Dubai Airports.

Copyright Reuters, 2019