UAE: New Planes Could Take Dubai Airport Capacity To 600 Destinations, Says CEO

Dubai Airports' capacity could reach more than 600 destinations from its current 240 destinations, due to new modern long-range aircraft that local and foreign carriers will use in the coming years, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

Speaking at the panel discussion at the 'Dubai City Briefing' organised by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, he said this will make Dubai an unassailable global aviation hub between the East and West.

“The great thing is that the technology is changing in the air and on the ground. One of the most exciting things is that the new technology of aircraft has fantastic range and performance, and comes in all shapes and sizes.

"Now, the wide-bodied aircraft can serve the long, thick routes and the congested airports very successfully, but the narrow-bodied aircraft as well, with fantastic range, can fly up to nine hours, with a capacity of between 160 and 200 people on board. So, all of those secondary cities in Asia, Europe, and Africa can have very, very good, connected service directly to Dubai,” he added.

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“The number of cities that we're serving at the moment, from Dubai International (DXB), which is about 240, could grow to over 600 destinations in the future and would make us pretty unassailable as the global hub of choice between East and West. At the moment, one-third of the world's population is within four hours flying time of Dubai, and two-thirds within eight hours. Now if we could actually extend that range and cover all of those secondary cities across Europe,” he said during the panel discussion.

Citing an example, he elaborated that the number of airports in Spain is significant, and yet, at the moment, there are only two destinations served directly from Dubai.“We could cover 10-12 of those airports just in that one country with the range of aircraft that both Emirates, flydubai, and other airlines are bringing into their fleets over the next few years. So, that's going to be one of the most interesting and great opportunities, not just for visitors coming here, but the range of destinations that Dubai residents will be able to visit overseas,” he added.

Dubai's flagship carrier Emirates flies to more than 140 destinations, while flydubai connects Dubai to more than 135 destinations.

Dubai Airports' CEO said the number of passengers passing through Dubai International (DXB) will reach 95.3 million at the end of this year.

Griffiths noted that when he joined Dubai Airports in 2007, he was told that Dubai Airport would never grow beyond 65 million.“By the end of this month, we'll be at 95.3 million. The most amazing thing is that I started when I arrived in Dubai, thinking that we were in the infrastructure business, but I soon realised, that we're actually in the hospitality business, and we had to treat every single customer that passes through Dubai International and Al Maktoum as a real customer, part of that hospitality experience that starts and finishes at the airport. We are the first and last impression of Dubai, and being able to welcome people in the spirit of what the entire city stands for.”

Griffiths said in October that DXB could reach 100 million milestone in 18 months.

In the first nine months of 2025, Dubai airport recorded 70.1 million passengers, representing a 2.1 per cent increase over the same period last year.

India retained DXB's top country market in the first nine months of the year with 8.8 million guests, followed by Saudi Arabia (5.5 million), the UK (4.6 million), Pakistan (3.2 million), and the US (2.4 million). Among city destinations, London led with 2.8 million guests, followed by Riyadh (2.3 million), Mumbai (1.8 million), Jeddah (1.7 million), and New Delhi (1.6 million).

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