Dubai behind Heathrow for now, but no big deal

|By TAP Staff| Dubai is behind UK’s Heathrow International airport by only fewer than 3,000 passengers daily to become the world’s biggest airport for international traffic. Considering that this number is equivalent to just 12 flights, Dubai can be expected to overtake Heathrow any time in future.

“It can be expected Dubai will power ahead, having earned the right to the title of world’s leading airport,” said Peter Morris, the chief economist at Ascend Flightglobal Consultancy, an aviation firm.

“Dubai has integrated a global travel and tourism product between airport and airlines, and created conditions for growth to benefit from the double-digit traffic opportunities from Africa, Asia and the Middle East,” Peter pointed out.

“The difference between Heathrow and London, made starker by the fact that the population of the whole UAE is less than the London region, illustrates the benefit of long-term infrastructure planning, rather than a short-term reliance on private markets,” Peter said.

Dubai International has had 34.6 million passengers pass through its gates since January, while Heathrow had 35.1 million. If the Dubai airport had been operating normally, it would have already crossed the UK airport’s level. Dubai airport was operating at much less capacity for about three months as the runways were closed for maintenance. The maintenance process is now over and the airport is now back to full capacity.

Despite the closure, Dubai International experienced a growth rate of 6.2 per cent year-on-year, while Heathrow posted a much more meagre rate of 1.2 per cent. Last year, Dubai experienced growth of 15.3 per cent, according to Airports Council International.

Both airports are expected to handle more than 70 million passengers this year. But Heathrow suffers from capacity constraints due to runway issues.