Eighteen months ago, its terminals were teeming with transiting passengers or travelers arriving to enjoy some desert sunshine, then Dubai International Airport became a ghost of its former self.
After retaining its crown in 2019 as the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, by early 2021 the effects of the pandemic had left many of its corridors and gates standing empty, like other such facilities around the world.
The slowdown, according to Airports Council International, led to a 70% drop in passengers at DXB to 26 million in 2020 — making it still the world’s busiest, but a shadow of its former self.
Now the airport is hoping to reclaim some of its pre-pandemic glory. On Thursday it brought its main Terminal One out of mothballs and reopened Concourse D, the huge retail area that connects to it.
It’s a move that will be watched with eagerness and caution by the economically battered global aviation industry as it looks for shoots of recovery after months of empty skies and emptier bank accounts.
If the world’s leading international hub for air passengers is getting back on its feet, then that could be an indication that other destinations and air routes will follow.
“Dubai’s aviation sector has been at the forefront of a global campaign to restore vital international air services with the opening of quarantine-free travel corridors between the UAE and multiple countries around the world,” Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports, said in a press…