Dubai Airports unravels the future at Airport Cities World Conference

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About Dubai Airports
Dubai Airports owns and manages the operation and development of both of Dubai's airports - Dubai International as well as the upcoming Dubai World Central — Al Maktoum International.

According to Airports Council International's figures, Dubai International is the only airport among the world's top ten busiest airports in terms of international passenger volumes, to show positive growth both in the last quarter of 2008 (7.1%) and the first quarter of 2009 (2%).

Passenger traffic at Dubai International increased from 34.34 million in 2007 to 37.44 million, a year-on-year growth of 9 per cent, while cargo tonnage increased by 9.4 per cent to 1.8 million tonnes.

Connected to over 205 destinations across six continents through more than 125 airlines, Dubai International has grown at an unparalleled rate for almost a decade and accounts for nearly 25 per cent of all passenger movement in the Middle East and Africa region.

With the opening of the Emirates-dedicated Terminal 3 in October 2008, now acknowledged as the most successful launch of a terminal of its size in the history of aviation, Dubai International is well on its way to becoming the world's future aviation hub. Terminal 3 has doubled Dubai International's operational capacity to 60 million passengers per year, a figure that will increase to 75 million passengers with the completion of the now under-construction A380-dedicated airside facility.

Work is also in progress on the first phase of Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum International, which will eventually become the world's largest airport with a capacity of 120 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo per year.