DUBAI: Dubai International Airport saw a surge in passengers in the first half of 2022 as pandemic restrictions are eased and the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar will further boost traffic at the city-state’s second airspace, its chief executive said on Wednesday. Told.
Paul Griffiths, who oversees the world’s busiest airport for international travel, told The Associated Press that the airport handled 160 percent more traffic in the past six months than the same period last year, surpassing air travel worldwide. part of the rebound.
The nearly 28 million people who traveled through the airport in the past six months represent about 70 percent of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels, even as Dubai’s main source market in China has been reeling from severe pandemic restrictions. remains closed. Griffiths said he expects airport traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year.
“It’s a very welcome surge of traffic,” Griffiths said.
The first World Cup in the Middle East, he said, will see foreign football fans flown to the Al-Maktoum International Airport in Dubai World Central, or DWC. From there, they would travel daily to Qatar, a smaller neighbour, which faces hotel constraints.
“We have actually seen a huge demand at DWC for slot filings for airlines wanting to operate shuttle service,” he said. “I think the city has a lot to offer and a lot to gain from the World Cup.”
He added that airlines that have bought additional slots to shuttle football fans to the tournament from DWC include Qatar Airways, low-cost carrier FlyDubai and budget airline Wizz Air Abu Dhabi.
During the first half of 2022, Dubai International Airport carried about 56 percent more flights than the same period in 2021, when infectious coronavirus variants gripped the industry.
Now, in a sign of the health of the industry, Emirates said on Wednesday that it will invest billions of dollars in retrofitting the majority of its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleets. At the peak of the pandemic, the airline received a $4 billion government bailout.