Dubai Airports made no job cuts despite months of regional military conflict that disrupted the aviation sector, its chief executive said.
Dubai Airport . Photos by KT file
During an intervew with Khaleej Times, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said the morale is very high despite the regional situation.
“Morale is unbelievable. It was absolutely amazing the resilience, commitment and dedication that employees showed during crisis. Sometimes business conditions require you to do. The expected upside of that was that people remained even more dedicated and committed even before. We didn't make anyone redundant. The resilience the Dubai airport's employees showed is amazing during the conflict. I was humbled by the absolute dedication and commitment of the staff,” he said.
The US and Israel launched attacks at Iran on February 28. Tehran then targeted the UAE and other Gulf countries with missiles and drones. The Gulf countries had to close their airspace due to the Iranian attacks. Dubai International airport was (DXB) was also targetted by Iran during the regional military conflict.
Dubai Airports also revised down its passenger growth forecast for 2026 and 2027 in the wake of the regional military conflict, expecting to reach 100 million next year.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) received 13 million passengers during the second quarter, taking first-half traffic to 31.5 million, down 31.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2025, according to figures released by Dubai Airports on Wednesday.
100m passengers in 2027
Paul Griffiths on Wednesday projected that Dubai International passenger traffic will reach in the range of 70 million in 2026, down from its previous projection of 100 million.
But the aviation sector is bouncing back as Dubai airport's figures showed recovery in month-on-month passenger traffic during the second quarter.
By the end of the third quarter, he hoped the airport will have a full schedule and all airlines back.
Some foreign airlines suspended oprations to the Gulf region due to the safety and security reasons after the conflict.
“We will get back to that magic number we have been chasing for 100 million in early 2027,” he added.
On Wednesday, Dubai Airports said passenger traffic at Dubai International (DXB) is rebounding, with monthly volumes rising steadily through the second quarter following what its operator described as "one of the most challenging operating environments in the airport's history".
“We're back to 56 airlines, 236 cities, and 100 countries. Every single week, we get another few red dots on the map and more routes. It's always good to see growth in the network and the number of customers. The only thing I need for the cherry on top of my cake is for the European and US airlines to start flying again. They redeployed a lot of their capacity over the northern summer. I'm sure they'll be back for the winter from the end of October, so we're looking forward to that,” the Dubai Airports chief said, adding that Air France has resumed operations to Dubai with extremely strong load factors.
Busiest airport title
During the interview, Paul said he hoped that Dubai International – the world’s largest airport in terms of international passenger traffic – would be able to retain its title as the busiest airport for international passenger numbers this year, despite a drop in passenger traffic.
“We're pretty confident that by the year-end, we'll be back in that position for international travel. You can't take the first six months as an indicator of long-term strength. Our network, position and importance in global air traffic mean that we'll close this year as still number one. We've been number one for nearly 12 years. I'm not going to lose that crown to anyone else,” he said vehemently.
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Waheed Abbas
Waheed Abbas is Assistant Editor, covering real estate, aviation and other business stories that dir...