Dubai is claiming to have overtaken Heathrow to become the world’s busiest international airport.
The Gulf hub handled about 71 million passengers last year, compared to Heathrow’s 68.1 million, said Dubai International Airport chief executive Paul Griffiths.
Heathrow handled a total of 73.4 million passengers in 2014, but this figure includes domestic travellers. The figure was a 1.4% rise on 2013 and a record for the airport, but it claims its growth is being restricted by a lack of runway capacity.
Dubai, on the other hand, is continuing to expand.
"Heathrow is losing a lot of traffic to Dubai because we’re able to cater for the connections that Heathrow no longer has the capacity to service," said Griffiths.
Heathrow is pressing the UK government for planning permission for a third runway, but the Airport Commission, set up by the Coalition to consider where best to create additional airport capacity in the southeast of England, has yet to make its recommendations.
Gatwick is also pushing for the right to build another runway and it too handled record passenger numbers last year, reaching 38 million.
