Article Author:
Associated Press
Isabelle Debre
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai International Airport has eased pandemic restrictions and the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be It will further increase traffic to the nation's second airfield, its chief executive said Wednesday.
Paul Griffiths, who oversees the world's busiest international travel airport, told The Associated Press that the airport has grown by 160% in the past six months compared to the same period last year. said it handled a lot of traffic. This is part of the recovery of air travel around the world.
His nearly 28 million people who have flown through the airport in the past six months are at a loss even as the Chinese market, Dubai's main source of supply, remains closed. Regardless, it still accounts for about 70% of the airport's pre-pandemic levels. to strict pandemic restrictions. Griffiths said he expects airport traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year.
"This is a very welcome surge in traffic," he said Griffiths.
Foreign football fans will flock to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) for the first World Cup in the Middle East, he added. From there, they travel daily to Qatar, a small neighbor facing hotel pressure. I've seen it," he said. "I think the city has a lot to offer and take away from the World Cup."
Additional flights from DWC to move football fans to the tournament Qatar Airways, low-cost carrier flydubai and low-cost carrier Wizz Air Abu Dhabi are among the airlines buying slots, he said.
Ambitions plans to transform an airfield in the desert south of Dubai into a mega aviation hub, first announced by Dubai before the 2008 global financial crisis, have been thwarted in recent years. . Dubai-based long-haul airline Emirates parked many of its double-decker Airbus A380s there as commercial flights were halted during the pandemic.
Dubai's air traffic, an important east-west transit point, has been watched as a barometer of the city-state's non-oil economy. Emirates continues to be a cornerstone of the wider empire known as 'Dubai Corporation'.
In the first half of 2022, Dubai International Airport reported nearly 56% more deaths than in the same period in 2021, when a contagious coronavirus variant hit the industry. Handled the flight.
In a sign of the health of the industry now, Emirates announced Wednesday that it will spend billions of dollars to refurbish most of its Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s. At the height of the pandemic, the airline received his $4 billion bailout from the government.
The widespread lifting of virus restrictions has led to a rapid increase in demand for air travel, filling up hubs in Dubai and disrupting airports around the world.
Dubai hasn't seen chaotic crowds overwhelm European hubs in recent weeks, but Griffiths said global turmoil is affecting major airports. said.
"Some of the capacity caps that were applied to airports like Heathrow impacted our numbers, so obviously it impacted growth. He said.[54][55] Last month, Emirates lashed out at Heathrow Airport, restricting departing passengers and rejecting the company's demands to cut flights to its London hub. . Emirates later agreed to temporarily limit the sale of its flights.
Dubai has seen an influx of Russians into its beachfront villas and luxury hotels since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine made Russia's richest businessmen scramble to save their assets from an expanding trigger net. Welcome... This city is one of the few flight routes from Moscow.
Griffiths declined to comment on the Russians taking cash out of the country to Dubai. He said it will not stop, adding that "Russia is still a major source of traffic for us."
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