World’s busiest airport, Dubai International, sees record travel

Dubai International Airport saw a record 44.9 million travellers pass through its terminals in the first half of this year, putting the world’s busiest airport for international travel back on track to beat its all-time record, as aviation booms after the coronavirus pandemic.

The results released on Wednesday follow a record-breaking annual profit for the long-haul carrier Emirates that calls the airport – known as DXB – its home. The results come as Dubai plans to move operations to a nearly US$35-billion new airfield in the next decade.

Meanwhile, a real estate boom and its highest-ever tourism numbers have made the city-state in the United Arab Emirates not just a layover, but also a destination for even more travellers.

“Before the pandemic, 60 per cent of people coming through the airport were actually transiting to other cities and countries. We’ve now got 60 per cent coming to the city and 40 per cent in transit,” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths told The Associated Press. “That is obviously very good, because it means that traffic to the city is very dynamic and buoyant,” he added.

The airport had 89.1 million passengers in 2018, its busiest-ever year before the pandemic. Sixty-six million passengers passed through in 2022 and 86.9 million passengers in 2023.

“We are headed for a forecast number for the balance of the year of 91.8 million passengers, which is again another record for us,” Griffiths added.

DXB long has served as a barometer for the aviation industry worldwide and the wider economic health of Dubai. The UAE and the airline rebounded quickly from the pandemic by pushing forward with tourism, even as some countries more slowly came out of their pandemic crouch.

Travellers from India passed through DXB terminals in the largest numbers through the first half of the year, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

Passengers transiting from China notably surged to about one million, an 80 per cent increase over the same period last year, yet levels remain below those seen before the pandemic.

That has seen whiplash at an airport briefly shut during the pandemic to one now straining from the traffic. In April, Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced plans to move DXB’s operations to Al Maktoum International Airport at DWC or Dubai World Central, an airfield in the city’s southern reaches whose development had been delayed by the repercussions of the sheikhdom’s 2009 economic crisis.

The goal of expanding Al Maktoum International “really is to try and get the airport there capable of supporting something like 260 million passengers when fully developed. Now, clearly at DXB, we are limited on the land space that we’ve got available,” Griffiths said. “We probably have another five to 10 years (of) growth left at DXB, but beyond that, we will need growth at DWC phase two.”

Plans call for a curving, white terminal reminiscent of the traditional Bedouin tents of the Arabian Peninsula. The airport will include five parallel runways and 400 aircraft gates, officials say. The airport now has just two runways, like Dubai International Airport.

Al Maktoum International Airport, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) away from DXB, opened in 2010 with one terminal. It served as a parking lot for Emirates’ double-decker Airbus A380s and other aircraft during the pandemic. But since then, it has slowly returned to life with cargo and private flights. It also hosts the biennial Dubai Air Show and has a vast, empty desert in which to expand.

The announcement by Sheikh Mohammed noted Dubai’s plans to expand further south. Already, its nearby Expo 2020 site has been offering homes for buyers.

AP