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Paul Griffith, chief executive of Dubai Airports, said that the air travel industry “has not yet fully emerged from the predicament”-but the future may be brighter than it has been in the past 20 months.
“We have room for optimism and hope that the future is much brighter than the past 20 months,” he told CNBC Dan Murphy At the Dubai Airshow on Sunday, The first major international air show since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
He said that the city’s airport has received 20.7 million passengers this year, which is “far from the pre-pandemic level”, which may not be realized until 2025.
But he said that as the world relaxes restrictions and major international traffic starts again, there are signs of recovery. He added that in the past six weeks, passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport has increased by 40%.
Dubai Airport owns and manages Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central Airport in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai International alone served 86.4 million customers in 2019.
Passenger forecast
By the end of this year, Griffith expects Dubai Airport to receive 26.7 million passengers. He said that by 2022, this number may jump to 56 million or 57 million.
The chief executive said he was cautiously optimistic that the number of passengers might be better.
The Emirates aircraft will be at Dubai International Airport on February 1, 2021.
Karim Sahib | AFP | Getty Images
“I do hope for a slightly more optimistic forecast, but we are in uncharted territory,” he said.
He told CNBC that Dubai International was “very aggressively” to resume normal operations after a period of “hibernation”. “We are very optimistic that we will lead the recovery and the world will travel again soon.”
When asked about the biggest threat to the recovery of air travel, Griffith said that the risk of a lockdown caused by the surge in new coronavirus infections is a “big problem”.
Just this weekend, the Netherlands As the number of Covid cases surged, hospital capacity was stretched, and partial lockdowns were restored.
If airlines and airports respond with high-quality products and value-for-money products, then people are very eager to get back into the air again, and they will respond.
Paul Griffith
Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Airport
Griffith added that due to strict regulations, expensive Covid testing protocols, and fear of rapid changes in the rules, many people may not have the confidence to travel.
He said: “The last thing you want to do is to start a journey and be trapped in a place where you must be isolated,” but he admits that the risk is less now.
He said that the economic situation-whether people have disposable income to travel as they did in the past-is another factor affecting the aviation industry’s recovery, but he added that he is “quite confident” in demand.
He said: “If airlines and airports respond with high-quality products and value-for-money products, then people are very eager to get back into the air and they will respond.” “We have already begun to see its buds. “
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