ABU DHABI, 24th April, 2017 (WAM) -- Over 6.15m passengers passed through Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) in the first quarter of 2017, a rise of 1.8 percent in airport traffic compared with the 6.04m achieved in January-March last year, according to figures released by airport management on Monday.

Airport management reported that its leading five destinations over the period - London, Bangkok, Bombay, Doha, and Jeddah. accounted for 17.3 percent of the airports passenger traffic for the January-March (Q1) period.

By contrast, transit and transfer traffic grew by 2.1 percent in Q1 to account for 65.8 percent of total traffic at Abu Dhabi Airport, while origin and destination (O&D) passenger traffic accounted for a 34.2 percent share of the total, growing by 1.2 percent compared with the first quarter of 2016.

According to the airport traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal 3 grew by 28.2 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year, with Etihad Airways accounting for the majority 76.9 percent share of the total.

In addition, the airport reported that its total passenger traffic in March 2017 reached 2,032,642 up +0.3 percent on its March 2016 performance where it handled 2,025,842 passengers.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2017.