Dubai International will soon become the first airport in the world to handle 100 million passengers in a year. Some 40 years after Emirates began flying to and from the UAE hub, tens of millions of those travellers are transferring between flights. But in a dramatic switch compared with the pre-Covid era, a majority of passengers are starting or ending their journey in Dubai.
In 2019, around 40 per cent of travellers at Dubai International Airport were “O&D” traffic. This aviation acronym stands for origin and destination – signifying Dubai is the start or the end of the journey.
But in figures just revealed by the airport, the proportion has soared to 55 per cent.
Robert Whitehouse, vice-president of research at Dubai Airports, said the growth “reflects a balanced mix of inbound visitors, outbound travel from residents and the many people choosing to make Dubai their home”.
A key lure for tourists is the Burj Khalifa, the world’s highest building – over half a mile high. New attractions, hotels and restaurants are constantly opening in Dubai.
This winter both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have increased capacity from London Heathrow – with most of their passengers ending their journeys in Dubai. In addition, Austrian Airlines has relaunched its link from Vienna.
From Asia, three new twice-weekly flights have begun:
- FlyArystan from Aktau in Kazakhstan
- Varesh Airlines from Sari in Iran
- Fly Jinnah from Lahore in Pakistan
Traffic from Saudi Arabia has also risen significantly, with numbers expecting to reach eight million by the end of the year – roughly 22,000 passengers per day to and from the kingdom.
Dubai became the busiest international aviation hub in the world in 2014, overtaking Heathrow for non-domestic passengers. But it faces strong competition from Doha, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and the planned base of Riyadh Air in the Saudi capital.
At Doha’s airport, three out of four passengers are changing planes – the vast majority on Qatar Airways. But Abu Dhabi, hub for Etihad, has seen a drop in the proportion of connecting traffic, with about half travelling to and from the Emirate. The Zayed National Museum opened in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, and the late Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim is expected to welcome visitors in 2026.
Among other global hubs, the percentage of transfer passengers is:
- Amsterdam, 64 per cent
- Singapore, 63 per cent
- Abu Dhabi, 50 per cent
- Frankfurt, 48 per cent
- Istanbul, 48 per cent
- Paris CDG, 29 per cent
- Hong Kong, 22 per cent
- London Heathrow, 22 per cent
Measuring transit passengers at US and Canadian airports is difficult because all arriving international travellers are required to go through immigration checks as though they were ending their journeys.
Dubai is expected to reach 100 million passengers in a calendar year either in the last few days of 2026 or during 2027.
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