88 Million Passengers Expected Through Dubai Airport in 2024
Majed Al Joker, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Airports, expects that the number of passengers through Dubai International Airport will increase to about 88 million passengers next year, supported by the growing tourism and trade movement in the emirate, the expansion of national carriers, and the attraction of new airlines to operate from the airport.
Dubai Airports had revised its expectations for the number of passengers this year to rise from 83.6 million to 85 million passengers.
In statements to local media, Al Joker said that the capacity of Dubai International Airport currently reaches about 100 million passengers, and there is ongoing work since 2016 on a plan to raise the airport's capacity to about 120 million passengers through improving procedures, activating technology, increasing efficiency, updating devices, and reorganizing and designing areas.
Al Joker stressed that the steps taken by Dubai International Airport and the procedures it has implemented have contributed to increasing the smoothness of movement and significantly reducing congestion within the airport, noting that 96% of departing passengers from Dubai airport need less than 7 minutes to complete the procedures, while 97% of arrivals spend less than 14 minutes completing the procedures. There is ongoing work to improve and develop these numbers within a plan to increase capacity without the need to add new facilities.
Al Joker said that smart gates play a major role in reducing congestion, especially during peak periods, pointing out that there is a significant increase in the percentage of smart gate users from passengers at departure, which has reached about 50% of the total departures, while 45% of the total arrivals to Dubai use smart gates, which indicates the size of the role these gates play in reducing pressure on counters, speeding up transactions, and reducing congestion.
He added that the airport is continuing to work on developing the service at the smart gates, with the aim of being adopted by the largest number of passengers, to avoid delays in completing entry and exit procedures.
- Technology
Al Joker said that Dubai Airports is making significant use of artificial intelligence technologies to serve passengers through a number of systems, including the system for the flow of arriving passengers to the airport. Through this system, partners are provided with the number of passengers in advance every hour to prepare to receive them. The airport is also working on other systems with airlines and ground handling companies to speed up procedures, pointing out that the airport has succeeded in absorbing the recent increases in the number of passengers without the need to increase human resources.
Dubai International Airport witnessed a significant recovery in travel movement during the first half of this year, with travel movement during this period exceeding pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The airport received 41.6 million passengers in the first half, representing more than 100% of the number of passengers recorded during the first six months of 2019.