Dubai Airports scaling up operations after UAE airspace fully restored: CEO

Dubai Airports is scaling up operations and increasing flight movements after UAE airspace was fully restored, CEO Paul Griffiths said Monday.

“Now that UAE airspace is fully restored, we are scaling up operations and increasing flight movements in line with available regional routing capacity,” Griffiths said in a LinkedIn post.

He said maintaining stability across Dubai’s airports over the past two months required “constant adaptation” as the aviation hub worked to keep global journeys moving safely and consistently despite major constraints on regional airspace.

Since late February, Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) have safely supported the movement of more than six million passengers, over 32,000 aircraft movements and more than 213,000 tons of essential cargo, Griffiths said.

Operating within a disrupted corridor required schedules, capacity and passenger flows to remain aligned in real time, often under rapidly changing conditions, he added.

Griffiths said a significant share of international transfer traffic moves through the Middle East, with 22.4 million annual passenger journeys passing through DXB, accounting for one-third of transfer traffic moving through airport hubs in the region.

This makes stability at Dubai’s airports critical to maintaining global travel flows, he said.

The airport’s operational continuity during the disruption was made possible through coordination across the oneDXB community, including airline partners, service providers, control authorities and commercial partners, Griffiths added.

He said the period underscored the importance of agility and large-scale collaboration, noting that operational continuity under pressure depends not only on infrastructure but also on disciplined execution, clear communication and the ability to respond collectively as a system.

“Demand for travel through Dubai remains strong, and DXB is well positioned to progressively increase capacity and supporting airlines and guests through a period of continued adjustment,” he said.

The restrictions were imposed after the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, disrupting regional air routes and forcing airlines to adjust schedules across the Gulf.