The CEO of Dubai Airports, Paul Griffiths revealed on Tuesday that Dubai will reopen its second airport, Al Maktoum International to commercial passenger flights in May for the first time since the pandemic, to meet the surging market demand as countries gradually ease travel restrictions.
Alleviated restrictions
“I do expect that across the world, the testing regime for travel will start to disappear pretty quickly and we are hopeful that there will be an announcement over the next few weeks from many different places,” Griffiths said, noting that “the whole idea of having to have tests for travel will give way to vaccination certificates.”
The statement comes in response to the decision of several countries to ease travel restrictions, especially for vaccinated passengers. The UK does not require vaccinated passengers to undergo a COVID-19 test.
On its part, Bahrain also announced earlier this month that passengers are no longer required to take PCR tests on arrival.
Record traffic
Dubai International Airport predicts record passenger traffic this year, more than double the figures of 2021. Griffiths further highlighted that flight bookings for the upcoming three months mark a two year high since the pandemic outbreak in late 2019, stressing that “the outlook for the future now is particularly good.” The airport estimates 57 million passengers compared to 29.1 million in 2021.
