Dubai International Airport (DXB) has reported a 5.8% rise in passengers in March, compared with a year ago, with air services to Eastern Europe in particular growing rapidly.

Last month some 4.2 million passengers passed through Dubai, up from 3.9 million in 2010, freight volumes were down 3.7%.

The largest increases in total passenger numbers in March were recorded on routes to and from countries in the Arabian Peninsula Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Yemen, up 137,255, this was followed by the Asia-Pacific (+25,071) and Russia and CIS (+21,165 passengers).

In terms of percentage passenger traffic growth*, Eastern Europe saw an almost four-fold increase due to new services albeit from a small base, Russia & CIS passenger numbers rose 19 per cent as a result of flydubai's ongoing expansion into that region and North American traffic volumes increased 10% as Emirates doubled the frequencies to Houston and Los Angeles year-on-year.