The current year can become symbolic for Dubai international airport. According to the preliminary forecasts, in 2015 the Dubai airport will become the busiest in the world, and for obvious reasons. If to proceed from the indices of the previous year, this air harbor has already reached leading positions in the international arena. Thus, only in the first quarter of 2014 Dubai international airport took 2 million more foreign visitors than the well-known English Heathrow airport.
All the experts are inclined to believe that such indicators are not a limit for Dubai airport. And if to consider the fact that the terminals of the air harbor are constantly expanded and modernized, the volume of passenger traffic may increase by several times. It should be noted that such national air carriers as the Fly Dubai and Emirates Airlines contribute actively to the expansion of the runways and modernization of the existing terminals. These companies also develop actively and make a lot of effort for improving the appropriate infrastructure and international transport hubs.
International rankings – some history
Two years ago, the International Airports Council has published the rating of the workload of the various most important air harbors in the world. It is noteworthy that Dubai airport, has taken only the seventh place in this rating. At that time the volume of passenger traffic amounted to approximately 66 million passengers that indicated 15.2% in calculation of the increase in the passenger traffic. The top five list of the 2013 was as follows:
- USA, GA, Atlanta, Hartsfield–Jackson Airport: 94 million passengers;
- China, Beijing, Beijing Capital International Airport: 83 million passengers;
- England, London, Heathrow Airport: 72 million passengers;
- Japan, Tokyo, Haneda Airport: 69 million passengers;
- USA, Chicago, O'Hare Airport: 66 million passengers.
A year later the Dubai air harbor came out on the leading positions. For example, passenger traffic of Heathrow airport was about 68 million passengers, while the airport terminals in Dubai have served more than 71 million passengers. By the end of this year it is planned to reach the 79 million passengers, and by 2020, the volume of passenger traffic in Dubai can be about 100 million passengers in a year.
International experts admit that such growth become possible due to a heavy overload of the London airport. Today only two runways, which operate at the limit of their capabilities, are functioning there. Moreover, the congestion of terminals affects the accuracy of flights – more and more planes depart late. Since Dubai international airport has all the necessary resources to serve any directions, the outflow of passengers from London goes in his favor.
Besides, the following factors are considered among the main reasons of the increase in passenger traffic in Dubai:
- Activization of the international tourism and trade in the United Arab Emirates;
- Stability of the state in economic and political terms.
Leading positions in international rankings are the direct result of the increased traffic volume by national carriers. So the Emirates Airline company has increased the volume of passenger traffic by several times over the last few decades, and today has the largest air fleet for long-range routes.
It should be taken into account, that the Emirate of Dubai is not so rich in hydrocarbon raw materials as its famous neighbour Emirate of Abu Dhabi. But the Government of the Emirate for several decades pursued the active diversification of the national economy and paid more and more attention to the other sectors, particularly to the tourism industry, development of international logistics and trade. Analysts claim that by 2020 the revenues from civil aviation will amount about one-third of all total government revenues of the Emirate Dubai.
Safety of passenger transportation comes first
Along with technical and infrastructural improvements, the management of the Dubai international airport puts a lot of effort to provide maximum safety for passengers. Installation of the advanced technologies and appropriate equipment in the terminals of the airport can serve as the example of such initiative.
The airport's management realizes that the rapid growth of passenger traffic puts new requirements to the maintenance and security. That is why the services of the airport adopt the most advanced technologies.
In particular, it is a matter of installing special terminals for scanning the retina of passengers. The advanced technologies allow to carry out this procedure in a matter of seconds, what certainly affects the level of service and security of foreign guests.
All the works are carried out within the framework of the new concept of security of the airport. In fact, the system is an improved technological solution, which allows to conduct several checking procedures at the same time. Now luggage inspection, retina scan and verification of documents take minimum time. For information: such a procedure (passing control and luggage inspection) in many international air harbors can take in total up to 45 minutes, what is very inconvenient both for passengers and operating personnel.
Thus, the most advanced technologies and scientific achievements help the Emirates to take leading positions in the international rankings and to increase rapidly their revenues in the various sectors of economic activity including air transportation.
