The chairman of Dubai Airports has said he is confident that the emirate’s international airport will see 70 million passengers this year despite the recent runway closures.
In the August edition of Via Dubai, the official bilingual newsletter of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of DCAA and chairman of Dubai Airports, said this year’s performance will see Dubai International move closer to becoming the world’s number one airport for international passengers.
“Flight operations at the Dubai International Airport have been restored fully on July 21 following the completion of the runway refurbishment as scheduled. We are confident the completion of the major runway refurbishment programme in our history and full schedule operations ahead of the Eid Al Fitr holidays will bring in a significant surge in air traffic,” he said.
As airlines used bigger aircraft where possible and load factors were higher than usual, the actual reduction in seat and passenger numbers was calculated to be less than 26 percent during the 80-day repair programme.
“We are confident about the airport handling over 70 million passengers in 2014 which will bring us further closer to becoming the world’s number one airport for international passengers,” he said.
He added that the next project that will soon become a reality is a new concourse. The Concourse D which will be connected to an existing terminal by automated train is due to open in the first quarter of next year. A trial run is planned to be conducted soon.
The fourth concourse is part of the $7.8 billion expansion programme designed to boost the airport’s capacity to over 100 million passengers annually by 2020.
The development of Al Maktoum International Airport with an eventual capacity of 160 million passengers is also progressing in phases, he added.
“We are on the mark in terms of giving a big boost to the aviation industry which we anticipate will contribute 32 percent to Dubai’s GDP by 2020,” Sheikh Ahmed said.
Passenger traffic through Dubai’s main airport dropped 8.5 percent from a year earlier in June to 5.07 million people, as construction temporarily reduced its capacity.
In the first half of this year, passenger traffic expanded 6.2 percent to 34.68 million people. Dubai Airports said the resuming full operations would permit renewed traffic growth towards the end of this year.
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