Dubai Airport: A Perfect Example Of How 'Outsiders' Drive Growth

In August this year, the Dubai International Airport (DXB), the world's number one airport for international passengers and second for international freight, set another record by handling 7.7 million passengers.  In September, these numbers stood at 7.09 million.  A look at the earlier data would also be enough to show that DXB has been consistent in handling traffic efficiently.  What's more?  The airport that serves 100 airlines flying to more than 240 destinations across six continents is expected to handle 103.5 million passengers by 2020.

What could be the reason behind this? A quick answer to this is the world-class infrastructure that the airport boasts and its efficiency in handling a large number of passengers. Spread over a built-up area of 1,972,474 square kilometres, this airport that runs 24x7 has three terminals. For everything to run smoothly, terminals 1 and 2 serve all airlines while Terminal-3 is dedicated only to Emirates Airline and Qantas. These are plans taking shape to improve the infrastructure. However, a great infrastructure shows the airport is able to efficiently manage the traffic. What gives the opportunity to handle the highest passenger traffic volumes is a different fact.

Truth is it's the outsiders that are driving this growth.

Official estimates show that over 85 per cent of Dubai's population is expatriate. It is but natural that they need to travel. Data show India remained the top destination country with 9,24,256 passengers, followed by the United Kingdom with 584,508 passengers and Saudi Arabia with 535,280 passengers. This shows how brilliantly Dubai and its airport have been utilising “outside” support to achieve growth. This could be a lesson for countries such as India, which have not been able to utilise their own human capital. If a city like Pune, for instance, had a Metro network in place (the work on this is in progress), people are likely to avail of the services, helping authorities generate revenues.

The Dubai airport can be a great example that shows attracting huge foreign direct investments is not the only way to benefit from non-residents. They could benefit you in ways more than you can imagine. 

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