Dubai - Home of the Super Jumbo

Dubai (or DXB to use the three letter airport code) has grown from a relatively unknown city with a tiny airport mainly used as a refuelling stop into a globally celebrated destination for tourism, trade, finance and aviation within a matter of decades. The rise has been nothing short of phenomenal - to put the airport’s growth rate into perspective, it is worth pointing out that DXB reached the major milestone of having served 1 billion passengers by the end of 2018. The airport took 51 years – from September 30, 1960 to December 31, 2011 – to reach the 500 millionth passenger but achieved the remaining 500 million passengers in just seven years.

Having risen to the top of the list of the world’s busiest international airports in 2014 with passenger traffic exceeding 70 million, DXB has since extended its lead over the competition to further cement its position. The airport topped 88.2 million passengers in 2017 and expected to reach some 90 million customers had the Covid-19 pandemic not devastated and virtually closed down air travel. The airport currently has that capacity and this is being increased to more than 118 million by 2023 under a process enhancement project.

Combined passenger traffic at both Dubai’s airports (DXB and the newer and considerably larger Dubai World Central or DWC) is expected to increase to 120 million by 2025.