Dubai International Airport (DXB) wants to explore passenger-centric strategies and is rethinking mega infrastructure development cost, design and size.
Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports (DA) CEO, wants to see airports of the future that are smaller, where passengers walk less; the proliferation of more right-sized, well-connected facilities to distribute loads; a greater focus on technology to speed travellers through with “no red lights”; and operations that can be measured to make the airport more cost effective.
Griffiths: airport operators are in the hospitality business and not infrastructure development (Photo: Caroline Boey)
Griffiths told delegates at the recent Aviation Festival Asia that airport operators are in the hospitality business and not infrastructure development.
He remarked that DA “did not retrench staff and knew recovery would be rapid even though we did not know when, but we would be ready”, sharing that DA worked with a service business partner who trained staff to its standard and had access to a flexible employment base that was “highly motivated”.
Dubai was among one of the first cities to reopen and DXB handled 86.9 million passengers in 2023, surpassing the 86.3 million in 2019. It is connected to 262 destinations in 104 countries via just over 100 international carriers.
The city-state welcomed a record 17 million visitors in 2023 and the 60:40 ratio of transit vs visit traveller at the end of the pandemic has now flipped to 40:60 and Dubai government is aiming for a 50:50 target.
“The government knows how important the airport is to the city and both have equal prominence in contributing to GDP,” Griffiths noted, adding that two-thirds of flights were within an eight-hour radius and four hours for the rest.
While the transfer market in the region – Qatar, Turkey, Abu Dhabi, etc – was “very competitive”, tourism potential was “extraordinarily enormous”.
“Like Europe, visitors coming to the Middle East visit more than one country. During the 2022 World Cup, 465,000 passengers travelled between Dubai and Doha so competition stimulates far more demand,” he commented.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) wants to explore passenger-centric strategies and is rethinking mega infrastructure development cost, design and size.
Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports (DA) CEO, wants to see airports of the future that are smaller, where passengers walk less; the proliferation of more right-sized, well-connected facilities to distribute loads; a greater focus on technology to speed travellers through with “no red lights”; and operations that can be measured to make the airport more cost effective.
Griffiths told delegates at the recent Aviation Festival Asia that airport operators are in the hospitality business and not infrastructure development.
He remarked that DA “did not retrench staff and knew recovery would be rapid even though we did not know when, but we would be ready”, sharing that DA worked with a service business partner who trained staff to its standard and had access to a flexible employment base that was “highly motivated”.
Dubai was among one of the first cities to reopen and DXB handled 86.9 million passengers in 2023, surpassing the 86.3 million in 2019. It is connected to 262 destinations in 104 countries via just over 100 international carriers.
The city-state welcomed a record 17 million visitors in 2023 and the 60:40 ratio of transit vs visit traveller at the end of the pandemic has now flipped to 40:60 and Dubai government is aiming for a 50:50 target.
“The government knows how important the airport is to the city and both have equal prominence in contributing to GDP,” Griffiths noted, adding that two-thirds of flights were within an eight-hour radius and four hours for the rest.
While the transfer market in the region – Qatar, Turkey, Abu Dhabi, etc – was “very competitive”, tourism potential was “extraordinarily enormous”.
“Like Europe, visitors coming to the Middle East visit more than one country. During the 2022 World Cup, 465,000 passengers travelled between Dubai and Doha so competition stimulates far more demand,” he commented.