Dubai is succeeding in achieving its stated aim to become the leading global hub. This week Dubai Airports announced that Dubai handled more international passengers than the previous leader, Heathrow in London. Dubai handled 70.47 million passengers in 2014, more than Heathrow’s 68.1 million international passengers in 2014, although the British hub’s domestic role still keeps it ahead for now on overall numbers because it handled 73.4 million passengers if domestic travellers are included.
Dubai benefits from a determined growth strategy from the government, and the natural geographical advantages of being in the middle of Asia, Africa and Europe. These two factors make Dubai’s extraordinarily ambitious plans genuinely realistic. When Dubai won the right to host Expo 2020, it knew that this massive event would confirm its status as the world’s leading hub.
This will be all the more certain because by then Dubai will have the additional benefit of the new Al Maktoum International Airport, which will be able to handle an initial 160 million new passengers, increasing to 250 million as more runways are added.
