Dubai International Airport reported yet another monthly rise in air freight traffic in May.

According to Dubai Airports, the facility handled 209,985 tonnes of cargo during the month, which was an 11.9 per cent upturn on the corresponding period in 2012.

Some 994,817 tonnes of goods were flown into and out of the aviation hub in the first five months of the year - an 11.6 per cent improvement on last year.

In addition to this, passenger numbers at the second largest airport on the planet surpassed the five million mark for the sixth consecutive month.

Experts believe the Middle East and South America in particular are bucking wider trends of declining air cargo traffic and these new figures certainly back up this theory.

The rising demand for freight services has led to a surge in orders for leading aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which recently predicted that up to 35,000 planes will leave its production line over the next 20 years.