Dubai International Airport Expects Double-digit Growth
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The number of passengers arriving and departing from Dubai International Airport will grow at a single-digit rate this year and a double-digit rate in 2010, in spite of a worldwide slump in commercial aviation, a top official of the company that owns and operates the airport said on Tuesday.
Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer Paul Griffiths reiterated Dubai’s commitment to invest in airport infrastructure and services.
"A lot of people have been asking whether we’ve been recasting our plans in light of the global recession. The answer is no, we haven’t, because this is Dubai’s long-term plan. If we were to react to current market conditions, we would make the wrong decisions, create delays and raise costs, and we would not be ready for the coming upswing. We will remain on course," he told Khaleej Times at the city’s Airport Show 2009.
Dubai International Airport posted a monthly growth rate in April of 6.5 per cent compared to the same month in 2008, and it announced earlier a 2.3 per cent rise in its first-quarter passenger traffic over the same period of last year.
A passenger growth rate of less than 10 per cent in 2009 would be good compared to that of other airports in the Middle East, Griffiths said.
"We are not expecting double-digit growth rates throughout 2009 but are confident to regain those in 2010," he said. He would not give a more specific estimate for this year’s expected increase in passenger numbers.
While global passenger growth rates have slowed to less than two per cent, the Middle East region overall is clocking an increase of at least seven per cent, he said. Abu Dhabi International Airport, for example, achieved an 8 per cent increase in March and 12 per cent rise in April, compared to the respective months of last year.
Airports across the Middle East are expanding their capacity and within the next few years will be able to handle a combined volume of as many as 400 million passengers, with Dubai accounting for half of them, Griffiths said. The Middle East is the only region of the world to record growth in passenger and cargo volumes since the economy turned sour late last year.
Dubai Airports is overseeing the expansion of Dubai International Airport’s new Terminal 3 as well as construction of the $10 billion Maktoum International Airport, billed to be the world’s biggest.
Griffiths said his company had no plans to buy assets abroad. "Acquisitions are certainly not something that are part of our strategy right now."
The UAE contributes 14 per cent of the all aviation activity in the world, he said, adding: "Dubai has the ability to connect major city pairs in the world with just one stop." Dubai International Airport serves 125 airlines that connect the emirate to 210 international destinations.
Separately, Frederic Theux, President of Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said that more than Dh500 million in contracts are on offer at this year’s Airport Show, more than double the 2008 figure. More than 19 international airports, from China to Tunisia, have sent representatives the event, which Reed has organised.