DUBAI - Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport rose 4.5 percent in March, rebounding after consecutive monthly declines at the world's busiest airport for international travellers.

Passenger numbers rose to 7.85 million from 7.51 million a year earlier, operator Dubai Airports said in a statement, despite the number of flights falling to 34,126 from 34,634.

The airport is the hub for airlines Emirates and flydubai.

In the first quarter, the airport handled 22.7 million passengers, up 1.1 percent, the statement said. Passenger traffic had fallen 0.6 percent in the first two months of the year.

Cargo volumes in March fell 5.7 percent to 222,045 tonnes.

The airport expects passenger traffic this year to increase 2.4 percent to 90.3 million.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; editing by Jason Neely) ((Alexander.Cornwell@thomsonreuters.com;))