Propelled by strong growth throughout the first three quarters of the year and anticipation of an exceptional surge in guest numbers in the final quarter, Dubai Airports is forecasting annual passenger traffic at Dubai International (DXB) to reach 86.8 million – surpassing 2019 traffic.DXB commenced the second half of 2023 with its growth story continuing unabated, with average monthly traffic reaching 7.6 million, tracking pre-pandemic levels throughout the third quarter. The world’s largest hub recorded 22.9 million passengers in Q3 – the highest quarterly traffic since 2019, taking the total year-to-date traffic for the first nine months of the year to 64.5 million passengers, up 39.3% compared to the same period in 2022 and 1% above 2019.“We’re thrilled but not entirely surprised that DXB is all set to surpass the pre-pandemic milestone well ahead of our initial projections by almost a year. Our outlook for the remainder of this year and the next remains optimistic. Teaming up with our strategic partners, we’re ready for the challenge to continue to exceed guest satisfaction amidst the continuous surge in traffic,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.He added: “Our team embarked on a remarkable journey, navigating fresh challenges during the recovery period and swiftly revitalising the business. Instead of settling, we’re dedicated to exploring inventive solutions, reimagining traditional concepts, integrating state of the art technology, and addressing the mammoth challenge of sustainability. Events like the Dubai Airshow present the ideal platform to recognise accomplishments and foster future growth. This edition is clearly playing a critical role in forging the path for the industry’s future.”Future OutlookDubai Airports is expecting record-breaking numbers to continue in Q4 and 2024. To accommodate growth and to achieve the company’s ambition of revolutionising the guest journey at DXB, Dubai Airports is undertaking a strategic project to expand infrastructure capacity while enhancing operational efficiency. With a current capacity of 100 million passengers annually at DXB, the deployment of innovative technology, expansion and refurbishment of existing infrastructures and more efficient use of its space and resources is expected to propel the airport’s capacity to 120 million.As Dubai tops the list of cities with the highest spending by international visitors with a total earning of $29.4bn , and the Emirate at the forefront of deploying the latest technologies, Dubai Airports has continued to work closely with its stakeholders to provide guests the experience they expect from Dubai.Top destinationsWith 8.9 million passengers in the first nine months of the year, India was DXB’s top country destination in terms of traffic volume, followed by Saudi Arabia with 4.8 million passengers, and the UK (4.4 million passengers). Other country destinations of note include Pakistan with 3.1 million passengers, the US (2.7 million) and Russia (1.8 million). The top cities by traffic were London (2.7 million passengers) and Riyadh (1.9 million), closely followed by Mumbai (1.8 million) and Jeddah (1.7 million passengers).PerformanceDXB's baggage handling system processed a total of 57.5 million bags in 2023 with a success rate of 99.8% - a rate of 2.5 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers - no mean feat for the world's biggest hub for international traffic. In terms of baggage delivery on arrival, 91% of all baggage was delivered within 45 minutes to the guests. The baggage volume in 2023 represents 106.07% of the 2019 baggage volume at DXB.The average waiting time at passport control queues was less than 11 minutes for 96.4% of the arriving passengers and 95.1% of passengers queued for less than six minutes at departure passport control. The average queue times at security-check on departures was less than four minutes for 98.4% of total passengers.CargoCargo continued to gain momentum in the third quarter registering a surge of 12.3% year on year, to reach 446,400 tonnes. The strong performance this year has helped level out a double-digit contraction in cargo recorded at the end of last year. The hub recorded 1.3 million tonnes of cargo in the first nine months of the year, registering a minor decline of under 1%.FlightsFlight movements in Q3 surged by 5.1% in the third quarter to reach 106,000. DXB handled 308,000 in total flight movements between January and September, up 25.2% year-on year.SHA

Dubai: Dubai Airports has been recognised as one of the Best Employer Brands in this year’s LinkedIn MENA Talent Awards under LinkedIn for companies above 1,000 employees.The Award recognises entities that focus on building a strong employer brand to engage with their audiences in a meaningful manner, with Dubai Airports being awarded for displaying the organisation’s culture and values across the platform, and engaging with its following of over 814,600 users.Dubai Airports’ second-place win is also a testament to the organisation’s presence on LinkedIn in regularly sharing content that helps to support its employees and its local community, while also creating compelling, real-life stories that humanise the brand and empower employees to become brand ambassadors and advocates.Meshari Al Bannai, Executive Vice President of Human Resources Development at Dubai Airports, said: “We truly believe that empowering our people throughout their careers is key to our success. LinkedIn is a powerful platform, and implementing a strategy that allows us to connect with our employees through engaging, human and emotive content helps us foster talent throughout the organisation”.“We utilise the platform to showcase our company culture, whilst sharing industry knowledge and expertise, helping us to inspire people of Dubai Airports. Recognition in this year’s LinkedIn MENA Talent Awards reflects our commitment to building communities across the business that empowers people to become the game changers of tomorrow”, he added.The winners were selected based on performance, results and impact of organisations leveraging their LinkedIn Talent Solutions. The criteria for selection included companies that have built a strong employer brand and engage with their audience in a meaningful way, company page views on the platform, percentage of follower growth on the platform and, the way talent engages with the company’s content via likes, comments and shares.LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network with over 530 Million members, celebrates the success of companies around the world that are innovating and leading the future of work.

Dubai Airports, operator of Dubai International (DXB), the world’s busiest international airport, and Dubai World Central (DWC), has announced the appointment of three key roles within the organisation: Omar Binadai as Executive Vice President – Technology and Infrastructure, Essa Al Shamsi as Senior Vice President – Terminal Operations, and Moataz Roushdy as Senior Vice President – Finance.The move reflects Dubai Airports’ commitment to developing and growing its people and to enable the leaders of the future to progress their careers within the organisation. This is indicative of our focus on strong recovery from the pandemic and readiness and planning to capitalise on anticipated future growth opportunities.Omar Binadai, Executive Vice President – Technology and InfrastructureWith the growing impact that technology now has on infrastructure, and the two fast becoming inseparable, Omar has been tasked to lead the transformation of Dubai Airports’ technology solutions and ongoing maintenance and improvements to its critical infrastructure. A technology industry veteran with over two decades of experience in the sector, Omar has delivered verifiable business growth and success over the years and has strengthened relationships with key partners and stakeholdersAs an entity that considers itself to be in the business of hospitality, this role with its focus on customer service and hospitality, is the major point of difference for our competitors. Essa Al Shamsi’s appointment as SVP, Terminal Operations marks the increased importance Dubai Airports places on the delivery of world class customer service and operational efficiency. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, Essa Al Shamsi will play a pivotal role within the team in the transformation of Dubai Airports’ guest experience, reinforce the collaborative approach within the DXB community and build even stronger relationships with service partners. Moataz Roushdy, Senior Vice President – FinanceThere has been a dramatic improvement in Dubai Airports’ financial operations over the past two years enabling the organisation to create a more effective, sustainable business. Following his performance in Dubai Airports’ efforts to mitigate the pandemic’s financial impact, Moataz Roushdy has been promoted to the role of Senior Vice President – Finance, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer. In his new role, Moataz Roushdy will oversee the financial operations, planning and budgeting-related activities, service costing and performance reporting covering the entire finance domain of the organisation. Meshari Al Bannai, Executive Vice President – Human Resources Development at Dubai Airports, said: “Our social contribution forms an important part of our people development strategy and enables local talent to develop their careers at Dubai Airports. These changes represent the ongoing evolution of our business, and better equip us to support our future growth and bolster our efforts to create world-class products and services that exceed our guests’ expectations. These leaders have demonstrated their capabilities with impressive track record of success across our business, and their contribution to our organisation in these new roles will continue to bring value to our stakeholders, team and guests. “The move is a demonstration of our strategy which focusses on developing the talent within to be leaders of the future. It will strengthen our senior management team and augments our ability to provide sustainable operational services to millions of global travellers who value the high benchmarks of quality and excellence we have set, while supporting our longer-term development and planning objectives.” he added.