The second half of 2021 will witness “unprecedented growth in travel demand” as Covid-19 vaccinations accelerate globally, according to the boss of Dubai Aviation City Corporation (DACC).
Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman, said DACC has been working towards consolidating the emirate’s position as a global aviation and logistics hub.
He added in comments made at the 20th edition of the Airport Show that Dubai would continue to lead from the front in resuscitating aviation, recovering the lost momentum and restoring passenger confidence.
The second half of 2021, he said, will witness unprecedented growth in travel demand as more destinations open up to travellers.
Al Zaffin (pictured below) said: “Dubai has been one of the first cities that took several decisive measures to enhance public confidence and provide travellers with the best model services through upgrading facilities, processes and procedures to deal with the challenges of containing the coronavirus pandemic.
“A positive message to the world has gone from the city-emirate that hosts the rescheduled Expo 2020 for six months from October, of all its authorities, institutions and facilities being fully prepared to energetically receive millions of visitors and sufficiently provide them with the opportunity to safely and securely enjoy the sights and sounds of the charming city while following the Covid-19 precautions.”
He added: “As airports and airlines are ready to provide a smooth and safe travel experience for travellers, it is imperative for the key players in the aviation industry too look at the situation differently by deploying innovative services and set sustainability standards at the top of their priorities.
“We should work jointly to open more safe passages between the countries and globally popular destinations to provide more options to millions of people across the world eager to travel after over a year of isolation and restrictions.”
He said the participation of 95 international companies in the world’s largest B2B airport exhibition – the first aviation exhibition to be organised since the start of the pandemic – was a “bold decision” and a “global vote on Dubai’s unfaltering efforts to revive aviation”.
On Monday, Emirates president Sir Tim Clark (pictured below) said governments globally have been culpable of taking “knee-jerk reactions” to control the spread of coronavirus in respective countries.
Sir Tim was giving the keynote opening address at the launch of Arabian Travel Market Virtual.
An example of this is the continued presence of the UAE on the UK’s Red List, restricting travel for thousands of British expats living in the country looking to return home for the summer, while also curtailing business and tourism travel.
Clark, a critic of the UK Government’s decision, said: “I think eventually we will get there. The problem we face at the moment is that nobody’s really sure of all the variables that come into this particular problem we face, whether that be the virus itself, the variants, the efficacy of the vaccines, the types of vaccines, the rate of rollout, the rate and the scalability of production, the surge in certain countries that we’re seeing in India.
“This is something that the politicians have never had to face before. And obviously, there’s going to be a certain amount of, dare I say it, knee-jerk reactions to protect the health of their populations. And the easy one, the low hanging fruit for them, is to keep foreign foreigners out, they just add complexity to it.”
The UAE has administered over 12 million vaccine doses so far, delivering 122 doses per 100 people. Approximately 61 percent of the population is completely vaccinated. Global vaccination rates, on average, stand at 21 doses per 100 people.
Last week, experts said pent-up demand, which could initially outstrip the availability of flights, will help drive the recovery of the Middle East aviation sector after the coronavirus crisis.
Latest air traffic figures at Dubai International (DXB), the world’s busiest international airport before the pandemic, showed it served 63 percent of the destinations in 89 percent of the countries on 74 percent of the airlines compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Boosted by passenger numbers breaching the 2 million mark in March, DXB’s passenger volumes for the first quarter this year reached 5.75 million.
This translates to a contraction of 67.8 percent compared to Q1 2020, which was largely unaffected by the pandemic related suspension of operations by airlines and airports worldwide towards the end of March.
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