Dubai Airports projects 70mn passengers this year as traffic recovers, CEO says

Dubai Airports expects annual passenger traffic to reach around 70 million by the end of the year, down from its previous target, CEO Paul Griffiths said on Thursday, noting that the original goal could now be reached by the end of 2027.

The Iran war and the resulting temporary closures of Gulf airspace forced the company to abandon its earlier forecast that Dubai International Airport (DXB) would handle nearly 100 million passengers this year.

DXB, one of the world’s busiest international travel hubs, handled 31.5 million passengers in the first half of 2026, down from 46 million a year earlier.

Griffiths said capacity has now recovered to 84 per cent of pre-war levels while customer numbers are back to 78 per cent.

The return from next month of some of the European carriers that suspended flights to the region due to the war supported the new projection, he said.

“I’m absolutely convinced by the end of the year, we’ll be pretty much back,” he said.

“The transfer market and the point-to-point market are incredibly healthy, and I think they will continue to be healthy,” he said.

India, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom remained the top markets to and from Dubai, he noted, and business travel remained generally strong.

Advances in smaller, longer-range aircraft could support further growth, he said.

The number of cities served directly from Dubai could increase from the current 240 by mid-2027, he said.

“We’re talking to a number of airlines that are going to plan services from cities that have never been operated between Dubai and Europe and Africa in particular,” he added.

Griffiths said, as a result of the conflict, there might be potential “design changes to the new airport to make it a bit more resilient.”