Dubai Airports Open Airspace, Scales Up Operations

DALLAS — Now that the airspace over the UAE has been fully restored, Dubai Airports is scaling up operations and increasing flight movements. 

According to Dubai Airports CEO, Paul Griffiths, the airports across the region “are scaling up operations and increasing flight movements in line with available regional routing capacity.” In a LinkedIn post, Griffiths said that maintaining stability across Dubai’s airports over the past two months required “constant adaptation” as the aviation hub worked to keep global journeys moving safely.

Operations have been frustrated since late February, but Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) have safely supported the movement of more than six million passengers, over 32,000 aircraft movements, and more than 213,000 tons of essential cargo.

“Operating within a disrupted corridor required schedules, capacity, and passenger flows to remain aligned in real time, often under rapidly changing conditions,” Griffiths added.

According to a report by the Anadolu news agency, about 22.4 million passenger journeys pass through DXB annually. This amounts to one-third of transfer traffic moving through airport hubs in the region. This makes stability at Dubai’s airports critical to maintaining global travel flows. 

Griffiths says that the airport’s operational continuity during the disruption was “made possible through coordination across the oneDXB community, including airline partners, service providers, control authorities, and commercial partners.” 

He said the period highlighted the value of agility and coordinated action at scale, emphasizing that maintaining operations under pressure depends not only on infrastructure, but also on disciplined execution, clear communication, and the ability to respond together as an integrated system.

“Travel demand through Dubai remains strong, and DXB is well positioned to gradually expand capacity while supporting airlines and passengers through this period of ongoing adjustment,” he said.

The oneDXB community is a collaborative initiative in the UAE that unites stakeholders involved in the operation of Dubai International (DXB) to ensure a seamless passenger experience.  Members include teams from Dubai Airports, Dubai Police, Dubai Customs, GDRFA-Dubai, Dubai Ambulance, Dubai Taxi Corporation, Emirates, flydnata, dnata travel, and Dubai Duty Free.

The airspace restrictions were imposed after the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February, disrupting regional air routes and forcing airlines to adjust schedules across the Gulf.