[Editor's Note: Follow the Khaleej Times live blog for real-time updates on Dubai Airshow 2025.]

Dubai Airports is working to roll out more processes for a smoother and faster travel experience, including eliminating check-in for people travelling with hand baggage only, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

While giving a peek into what is coming up for travellers, Paul Griffiths said the most valuable commodity for people when they travel is time, and airports have to stop asking people to come and stand in line waiting for a check in desk, asking them to stick paper labels onto their luggage before putting it into the baggage system, queuing up for immigration and then being shouted at to remove their shoes, belts and watches.

“There's nothing more intrusive than airport security in some airports,” he said.

Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.

“We live in a very exciting age where it's possible to use technology and processes to make life simpler for people, and make it simpler for people to speed it up, so no queues and red lines. We're trying to create a completely frictionless experience. We're on that journey with the DXB now, and the idea is, over the next few years, we'll be rolling out more and more processes, not to add things but to take things away,” he said.

Griffiths noted that Dubai Airports has already taken out the immigration process and replaced that with cameras that do facial recognition on every customer.

“We're working with security to make it no less secure, but make it much easier, so that it's very, very quick and efficient to get people through, so you don't have to lift your bag and dismember your entire possessions in front of someone. We're working to eliminate check-in if you're traveling with hand baggage. Obviously, you don't need to do that,” the aviation veteran said during his keynote address.

He noted that the Dubai Airports will achieve several things by implementing this process.

“First of all, we've respected our customers' time. The second thing is, what we've done is we've actually created a much quicker flow, so you can get through the airport much more quickly. And the best thing of all, if we can get four times the number of people through the same space in one quarter of the time, we've got four times the capacity without building anything.”

Speaking on the second day of the Dubai Airshow 2025 on the topic of 'Global Connectivity in action: Leading the crossroads of continents,' he said Dubai International Airport's (DXB) relocation to Al Maktoum International Airport in 2032 will be“the world's largest transition.”

“Within two years, we'll cross the 100 million passenger mark. Then, of course, we're looking forward to 2031 when 114 million people pass through DXB. Then, 2032 is a big moment when we achieve the world's largest transition. That will be a major milestone. Of course, all the technology we're trying today will be translated on an industrial scale into that fantastic new airport,” said Griffiths on the second day of the Dubai Airshow 2025 while delivering an opening keynote address on the topic of 'Global Connectivity in action: Leading the crossroads of continents.”

When Al Maktoum Airport becomes operational in 2023, it will have a capacity of 150 million.

Griffiths elaborated that the new airport will be the world's largest airport at 260 million around 2057, which will be another major milestone for the emirate of Dubai Airport.

“By then, I'll be 100 years old, and if there are enough spare parts to keep me going, I want to make sure that I'm around to welcome that 260 million customers through the world's largest airports,” he said during the opening note.

MENAFN18112025000049011007ID1110359486