UAE. Dubai Airports has issued an upbeat note about passenger traffic for the rest of 2026 with airspace within the UAE now fully open.
The airport company said it is “moving decisively to scale up operations, increasing flight movements in line with available regional routing capacity”.
This is despite the continuing impact of war in the region, which saw DXB passenger traffic fall -20.6% year-on-year in March (to 18.6 million), with March travel numbers down by -65.7% year on year to 2.5 million.
Following the lifting of all precautionary restrictions on UAE airspace, Dubai Airports has “entered the next phase of recovery operations”, ramping up daily fight movements and enabling airlines to restore schedules. A statement said, “Capacity is now primarily aligned to the availability of regional flight paths outside of the UAE, with coordination to optimise flows across neighbouring airspace.”
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said: “The extraordinary events of the past few weeks are unprecedented for any major airport hub such as DXB. International transfer traffic through the Middle East region accounts for a major share of the global air travel market, with 22.4 million annual passenger journeys flowing through DXB, representing one third of the transfer traffic across the region’s hubs.
“Maintaining the smooth operation of DXB is therefore critical to keep global journeys moving. Our focus has been on keeping operations safe and consistent for our customers through close coordination and rapid decision-making across the entire airport community and beyond, while ensuring the system remains ready to respond swiftly as conditions improve.
“Our collective response to these challenges has sharpened our ability to adapt at pace. That readiness will enable us to accommodate returning demand as capacity is restored, reinforcing DXB’s role as a leading global hub, even as some regional routing constraints remain.”
The airport company noted that Dubai’s role as a global hub is closely linked to the international transfer market. Of the 99.3 million transferring passengers whose journeys could route through the Middle East, the region captures around 70%, with DXB handling 32% of that traffic. As conditions stabilise, this segment is expected to recover quickly, supported by demand that cannot be absorbed elsewhere, said Dubai Airports.
Looking ahead, Dubai Airports said its outlook for the year remains underpinned “by strong underlying demand”. As airspace capacity continues to improve, DXB is increasing flight movements and working with airline and airspace partners to unlock additional capacity.
The airport said it is well positioned to accommodate further growth in the months ahead while long-term expansion plans at Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC) continue to progress.
In Q1, India was DXB’s largest country market again with 2.5 million guests, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at 1.3 million, the UK at 1.2 million, and Pakistan at 918,000. London remained DXB’s busiest city destination with 752,000 guests, followed by Mumbai at 520,000, and Jeddah at 505,000 guests. ✈
