One of the World’s Busiest Airports Just Welcomed Its 1 Billionth Passenger

(Bloomberg) -- The billionth passenger has flown through Dubai International Airport, which has become one of the world’s busiest.

"We know we have reached a new milestone," Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tweeted Thursday. "We started a new journey, and we’re heading toward a brighter future."

A 9-year-old flying in from Orlando, Florida, was selected as the honorary billionth passenger. The boy and his family were greeted by the Dubai International’s chairman.

The airport opened in 1960 and reached 500 million passengers in 2011. 74.5 million travelers used Dubai International in the first 10 months of the year, up 1.5 percent from the previous year.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International is the world’s busiest airport overall, followed by Beijing Capital International. Dubai comes in third, but it says it is the world’s busiest for international travelers. Dubai thinks it will claim the overall crown by the end of the decade.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Fleisher in London at lfleisher2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net, Shaji Mathew

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