Dubai airport CEO: More passengers, but years to recover

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, handled 20% more passenger traffic in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, its chief executive said Monday, signaling cautious optimism for the ravaged aviation industry.

Yet a full recovery remains years off. More than 86 million people squeezed through the airport before the coronavirus hit in 2019. So far this year, it's welcomed just 20.7 million, up until October. But CEO Paul Griffiths said the figure still represents a sharp turn in fortunes for the crucial east-west transit hub that was clobbered by the pandemic last year.

“We're still optimistic for recovery being very strong,” Griffiths told The Associated Press amid the aroma of jet fuel and noise of plane takeoffs at Dubai Air Show, the biennial aviation trade expo that kicked off here on Sunday. “It’s going to be a couple of years, but I hope I’m wrong.”

The airport saw 6.7 million passengers over the third quarter, with flights surging 17% between January and September compared to the same period last year. It's a welcome change from the steady stream of bad news in 2020, when the airport slashed 34% of its staff and mothballed a main terminal as the coronavirus closed borders around the world.

“Growth is returning very strongly,” Griffiths said, citing a 40% spike in bookings last month. The airport is gearing up for flying to rebound for the rest of the year, betting that accelerating vaccinations and relaxing travel curbs will allow Europeans to flee wintry weather for Dubai's beaches and tourists to visit the giant world's fair in the city that runs until March.

Griffiths said confidence also grew with the loosening of travel restrictions from India and Pakistan,...