Dubai Airport closure set to impact holidays for 17,000 daily UK travellers

Dubai International Airport welcomes more than 90 million passengers per year, and is one of the largest in the world. But despite it being a major travel hub, its CEO has confirmed the airport is set to close. The news will come as a shock to the 6.2 million UK tourists that flock to the shiny city every year, which equates to around 17,000 Brits arriving into Dubai every single day (Picture: Getty Images)

However, there’s no need to worry about upcoming holiday plans — the airport will likely remain up and running for quite some time yet, with the closure date still TBC.
Boss Paul Griffiths explained that once Dubai’s new Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) begins operating, there will be no need for both to remain open (Picture: Getty Images)

‘There is little sense in operating two major hubs with such close proximity to one another,’ he said. ‘We will move every single service to DWC.’ Speaking at industry event, Arabian Travel Market, Paul also pointed out that 65-year-old Dubai International (DXB) is getting too old to maintain (Picture: Getty Images)

In answering a question from Skift, he said: ‘By then, every single asset at DXB will be close to the end of its useful operating role, so the economics of keeping DXB open will not be possible unless we invest a huge amount of money.’ While no specific date was given for the closure of Dubai International, we do know that the new and improved Al Maktoum is scheduled to open in 2032, and won’t be fully completed until the 2050s – so there’s life in DXB yet (Picture: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

What will become of Dubai International? It’s likely to be turned into prime real estate, as is often the way in the ever-growing city. ‘DXB will close and we’ll redevelop the area. It will spread the city out,’ Paul said (Picture: Getty Images)

Al Maktoum has actually been open since 2010 for cargo flights, and began welcoming passenger planes in 2013. Currently, Easyjet operates some flights there. But DWC is currently dwarfed by DXB, and very few passengers even know it’s there (Picture: Getty Images/Tetra images RF)

Dubai is somewhat of a divisive city – it’s been dubbed the most ‘overrated’ in the world, while also regularly topping most ‘popular’ lists from the likes of TripAdvisor (Picture: Getty Images)

Currently, both British Airways and Emirates operate flights from London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh (Picture: Getty Images)