Dubai Airports has offered to help US President Donald Trump on ways improve American airports, its CEO said on Tuesday.
In September 2016, Trump had praised Dubai and Qatar airports while comparing them to a few US airports with “third world” amenities.
“If America and President Trump would like some of the expertise from Dubai, I’m sure we’d be pleased to assist,” Paul Griffiths told Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Dubai Airports said that Dubai International Airport (DXB) annual traffic rose 7.2 percent to 83.6 million passengers from 2015, thus remaining the world’s busiest for international passengers in 2016. The number is set to increase to 89 million this year.
DXB beat London Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport for international traffic in 2014 and has maintained the title ever since, with more than 90 airlines flying into the emirate.
The figure fell short of Griffiths’ earlier estimates of 85 million passengers for 2016, with CEO blaming the shortfall on slowing of global economy and drop in the propensity to travel.
“Fortunately, our numbers are still holding up,” he told the news agency.
Saj Ahmad, analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research told Arabian Business on Wednesday that restricted airspace is a challenge for growth of country’s airports as DXB is expected to hit the 100 million passenger target “well ahead” of 2020.
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