How Dubai Became One Of The Most Important Aviation Hubs In The World

How Dubai Became One Of The Most Important Aviation Hubs In The World:



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Photo credit: Kamran Jebreili/AP

From the balcony of Stewart Angus’ office overlooking Dubai International Airport it isn’t obvious why Dubai has become one of the world’s most important cities in aviation–and a dangerous rival to many of Asia’s premier airports and carriers. Sure, there’s the big, six-year-old terminal dedicated to Emirates Airlines. An Airbus A380 taxis to the gate. Cars speed along a highway while the city’s ever soaring skyline stretches in the distance.



But Dubai handled 66.4 million passengers last year, making it the seventh-busiest airport in the world. This year it should pass Tokyo, London’s Heathrow, Los Angeles and Chicago’s O’Hare, and climb to third place–behind only Beijing and Atlanta. As recently as 2006 it wasn’t in the top 30. “The success is Dubai’s location–it’s Europe’s most easterly hub and Asia’s most westerly hub,” explains Angus, a seasoned Brit who has worked for the Emirates Group for 19 years and oversees international business for the group’s Dnata ground-services unit.



Long an important stop on the trade routes between Europe and Asia, the United Arab Emirates is a key point on aviation’s new Silk Road. With no snow to shovel off runways and no unions to strike–and within an eight-hour flight from two-thirds of the world’s population–Dubai has swiftly become a perfect air link. And that’s allowed government-owned Emirates Airlines, along with other Gulf carriers such as Qatar and Etihad, to shave off huge amounts of traffic from Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Today East Asia, Australia and New Zealand is Emirates’ biggest market, making up 29% of the airline’s revenue last year."



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