DXB constantly innovates and makes it easy for travellers

In 2021, Dubai International Airport (DXB) was the busiest in the world in terms of international passenger numbers — which was not really a surprising piece of news; for long, DXB has been in the top positions in the busiest stakes. In the first quarter of this year, it clocked 13.6 million in passenger traffic — and industry forecasts for the year indicate that DXB will more than double its annual traffic from 29.1 million in 2021 to 58.7 million passengers this year.

If you are wondering about a recent context, then 2.4 million passengers passed through DXB between June 24 and July 4, with average daily traffic reaching 214,000 travellers. And yet, despite the burgeoning numbers, one never ever gets to hear of attendant chaos unfolding in DXB — unlike other “busiest” airports in the world. Everything is shipshape and works like clockwork — and how efficiently traffic was handled during Expo 2020 became a talking point all across the world.

Given how much DXB has spoilt us for choices, residents in Dubai weren’t even expecting yet another leg up. But keeping pace with the famed innovation this city is known for, a slew of bilingual customer care services (for example, automated flight status checks) have been launched: these will be available round-the-clock, looped into an integrated contact centre. What’s more, plans are also in place to launch a WhatsApp chat service. “The new contact centre blends live and technology-enabled services for travellers to access support via phone, email, live chat, social media on @DXB and @DubaiAirports platforms, and WhatsApp for business, which is coming soon,” stated Dubai Airports.

This is the classic case of never resting on its laurels. Perhaps there is no other big-city airport in the world that has gone through the kind of reinventions that DXB has been through… Many of us would have seen black-and-white photos of the airport as it was when it was first constructed, with a small runway made of compacted sand, only being able to handle very limited traffic.

From then to now, it’s been an incredible journey. And yet, there has been no complacency, no feeling that enough has been done. This is one of the rare airports in the world where people report no sense of fatigue: you are not given the chance to feel jaded, and yet the place doesn’t lose its intrinsic character of being welcoming and hospitable, eager to make your travel as hassle-free as possible.

Each time we visit DXB, we are always pleasantly surprised to see something new, something novel being tried out. The best part about the frantic innovation that DXB excels in is that it is never in your face. Never has a passenger been “inconvenienced” because something was underway; it’s only the fruits of the labour that travellers get to enjoy — and cherish.

• Dubai