Abu Dhabi and Doha have seen increase in flights from India on a year on year basis. Capacity between India and Dubai has not increased. How do you view this ?
There is room for growth and if we can gain access to greater traffic rights then it would be good for both the countries. India has been UAE’s strongest trading partner since before living memory and it is very approiate that we continue to develop strong trade ties. Indian carriers are important part of our overall traffic mix. We have significant number of flights from Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and SpiceJet. They are all big customers of ours. We would love to develop the Indian market further but the bilateral constraints puts a ceiling on that which is little more difficult for us.
In 2023, nearly 12 million passengers flew between India and Dubai. What is share of origin-destination (O&D) traffic and onward traffic.
Dubai is the final destination for around 70 per cent passengers from India and 30 per cent travel onward. We have seen changes in market dynamics and I think the O&D market is growing faster both at an overall level and for India. Before the pandemic 60 per cent of our overall passengers travelled onward and 40 per cent of them had Dubai as their final destination. Now 56 per cent our overall traffic is O&D and 44 per cent transfer or connecting traffic.
India and Saudi Arabia are two largest markets for Dubai. Airlines from both the countries have placed large aircraft orders and want to develop their own hubs in respective countries. Do you see that a challenge for Dubai?
Competition and increase in capacity are good. is good. It will put Middle East region in a stronger position to develop tourism potential. If you look at the tourism potential of Saudi Arabia that is enormous. We know from past experience that events like the football world cup also boost tourism. For example when the world cup was held in Doha we had 465,000 passengers go through Dubai World Central airport in the last quarter of 2022.
But now people from Riyadh will fly direct to Rio? They would not have to come to Dubai. Does that not worry you?
O&D market for Dubai is growing faster than the transfer market. Also if you look at the economic multiplier effect, contribution of O&D traffic to Dubai city is significant
What are the airport’s plans to improve passenger experience
We are always working on plans to improve the entire flow of passengers through airport. We are always looking at new technology and new commercial offers ways to improve customer proposition. You can expect to see considerable amount of innovation over next few years
In April Dubai saw unprecedented floods which also led to suspension of flights. How do you plan to deal with such events in future?
Very fortunately the airport actually fared very well. We cleared the rain water very quickly. We had contingency plan which worked well. The difficult was of course the approach roads and the connectivity with the rest of city. That was where the main challenge was. People had difficulty getting to and from airport. There is considerable amount of infrastructure upgrade going on to improve drainage in the city.
What are airport’s plans regarding sustainability?
We want to get as close to carbon neutral as possible. We are looking at ways of harnessing the considerable solar energy that exists in the UAE. We are looking to change all ground based vehicles to non hydrocarbon fuel. We are looking at all sorts of new technologies to reduce our carbon footprint