Tag Archives: Dubai Airports

Dubai Airports has joined Dubai’s aviation community in signing a pledge to purchase only ‘green vehicles’ in the future. The pledge was signed by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports; President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority; Chairman and CEO of Emirates Group, and representatives from Emirates airline, flydubai, dnata, Dubai Police, Dubai Customs and Dubai’s General Directory of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA). “This commitment is fully aligned with the Dubai government’s aggressive goals to reduce energy consumption by 30 per cent by 2030 as well as our sector’s strategy to limit our environmental footprint while continuing our significant contributions to Dubai’s employment and GDP,” said Al Maktoum. DXB is home to a fleet of over 6,345 ground service vehicles comprising various types ranging from water tankers to tow tractors to fork lifts operated by a number of companies that operate on the airfield including airlines, control authorities and ground handling services provider dnata. Of these DXB features a variety of green vehicles including BMW hybrid limousines for VIP services and RTA’s fleet of Tesla taxis but wants to scale up efforts to convert the fleet to top hybrid or electric models.

Dubai Airports, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) and Emaratech marked the completion of the installation of 20 smart gates at Dubai International’s (DXB) Terminal 1. The new smart gates are now fully operational in the arrivals area of Terminal 1 in addition to the 10 installed last year in departures. In total, some 127 smart gates are available across the entire airport reducing average transaction times from minutes to under 10-15 seconds. The launch of the new smart gates coincides with the start of UAE’s Month of Innovation, which is being observed from February 1 to 28 in response to a call last year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, to promote a culture of innovation. “Smart gates make customers’ journey smoother by slashing transaction times to just 10-15 seconds and shortening queues,” said Michael Ibbitson, Executive Vice President—Technology & Infrastructure, Dubai Airports. “What’s surprising is that only 17 per cent of our passengers take advantage of the service. If you have a UAE residency card, don’t wait in line, use it.”

Passenger traffic at the Dubai International Airport (DXB) reached 6,953,596 in November compared to 6,581,805 recorded in the corresponding month in 2016, an increase of 5.6 per cent, as per a latest report. Year to date, passenger numbers at DXB have risen 5.8 per cent to 80,387,442 compared to 75,947,899 recorded during the same period in 2016. This upward trend in passenger traffic has been continuing during the past year at Dubai Airports. Once again, the most significant contribution to passenger numbers came from the Indian Subcontinent and Western Europe. The two regions were up 7.5 per cent and 8 per cent respectively, and more than 1.5 million passengers travelled through DXB from each region in November. These figures were reflected in the top cities, where London (310,551) and Mumbai (217,279) were the highest. For the first time in four months, Saudi Arabia (534,906) climbed to the second spot in terms of passenger numbers by country, moving in front of the UK (507,796). India (999,625) remained the top destination country for Dubai International. November’s flight movement figures at DXB totalled 33,421 down 3.7 per cent on 2016, however the average number of passengers per flight during the month remained high at 215, up 7.3 per cent year on year.

In a ceremonial event, Dubai Airports welcomed Nigerian airline Med-View from Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) via Abuja (ABV) to Dubai International (DXB) with a traditional water salute. The airline, which operates into DXB’s Concourse D, offers travellers three weekly flights on Boeing B777 and B767 aircraft from Lagos via Abuja to Dubai. A cake cutting ceremony was attended by Muneer A. Bankole, CEO, Med-View; Khalil Lamrabet, Director Aviation Business Development, Dubai Airports and Saood Kankazar, Executive Director, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.

Ahead of the International Civil Aviation Day on December 7, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group stated that smart services at airports and in air navigation reflect the UAE’s commitment to ensuring safe, secure and environment-friendly aviation network. “Through efficient implementation of ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices, Dubai and the UAE are ensuring safe and secured air travel for passengers around the world. I consider the theme for this year, ‘Working together to ensure no country is left behind’, highly important in the light of the increasing international air transportation between states.” Maktoum said. The purpose of International Civil Aviation Day is to help generate and reinforce worldwide awareness of the importance of international civil aviation to the social and economic development of states, and of the unique role of ICAO in helping states to cooperate and realise a truly global rapid transit network at the service of all mankind.

Dubai International (DXB) welcomed 6.9 million passengers in October, as per a monthly traffic report issued by Dubai Airports. Passenger traffic at DXB reached 6,865,296 in October compared to 6,420,208 recorded in the corresponding month last year, an increase of 6.9 per cent. Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports said, “The third quarter has begun on a very positive note for DXB and with the hub on track to achieve our forecast of 89 million passengers for the year, our focus will be on continuing to maintain customer service quality and overall airport experience.” During the month under review, London was the top destination city out of Dubai with 327,400 passengers followed by Mumbai (219,512 passengers) and New Delhi (184,754 passengers). Flight movements in October totalled 33,257 compared to 35,314 flights operated at DXB during the same month last year, a contraction of 5.8 per cent.

According to traffic report issued by Dubai Airports, passenger traffic at Dubai International (DXB) reached 7.2 million in September. The airport for international passenger traffic welcomed 7,215,182 passengers in September as compared to 7,094,738 recorded in the corresponding month last year, symbolising an increase of 1.7 per cent. The softening of the growth was mainly due to the splitting of seasonal rush of travellers during Eid holidays which started in August and ended in September. The year to date traffic continued a strong upward trend with 66,568,550 passengers, a growth of 5.8 per cent compared to 62,945,886 recorded during the first nine months of 2016. Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said, “DXB’s growth throughout the first nine months of 2017 has been very satisfying and we are now well set for a great finish to the year; thanks to the internationally popular entertainment and sports events lined up for the upcoming winter season here in Dubai.”

Dubai Airports welcomed the inaugural flight of Oman’s first budget carrier SalamAir at Dubai International’s Terminal 2. The new arrival was celebrated with a traditional water salute for the flight followed by a cake cutting ceremony at the terminal attended by representatives of the airline and the airport, as well as passengers.

Dubai Airports recently partnered with ICFLIX, a content provider for travellers to enjoy free movies and TV shows. The initiative combines DXB’s free Wi-Fi experience, ‘WOW-Fi’, with ICFLIX’s video-on-demand service, allowing passengers to stream the latest Hollywood, Bollywood and Jazwood (Arabic) content to their smartphones and laptops. Content on ICFLIX is available in three languages- Arabic, English and French. “Dubai Airports is on a mission to engage more directly with our customers and transform the airport experience for millions of travellers each month. Thanks to our partnership with ICFLIX, travellers at DXB can now enjoy a wide range of streamed entertainment completely free of charge before and between flights,” said Eugene Barry, Executive Vice President of Dubai Airports’ Commercial and Communications Group.

Passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport reached 8,233,311 in August 2017 compared to 7,727,105 recorded in the same month last year, an increase of 6.6 per cent. As per the monthly traffic report of Dubai Airports, the year-to-date traffic totalled 59,353,368 passengers up 6.3 per cent compared to 55,851,148* recorded during the first eight months of 2016. During August, in terms of passenger volumes, India remained the top destination country with 1,044,730 passengers in August, followed by the UK (611,254 passengers) and Saudi Arabia (610,434 passengers). South America (27.4%) was the fastest expanding market in terms of percentage growth followed by Asia (21.9%), and Eastern Europe (18.8%). London was the top destination city with 377,130 passengers followed closely by Kuwait (284,151 passengers) and Mumbai (211,564 passengers). The average number of passengers per flight during the month remained high at 246, up 7.2% compared to 229 recorded in August 2016. Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports, said, “We are very pleased with the way things are shaping up this year, not only in terms of growth, which has been robust with passenger numbers exceeding the 8-million mark three times – in January, July and August, but also with our success in significantly enhancing the airport experience with initiatives such as the launch of the world’s fastest free airport Wi-Fi, streaming entertainment service ICFlix, quicker passport control and shorter wait times in queues thanks to cutting edge technology.”