One of the world’s busiest airports saw its passenger numbers plunge by more than half in March due to flight restrictions amid the Iran-US war.
Dubai International airport (DXB) held the status of the second busiest airport in the world in 2025, with 95.2 million passengers passing through Dubai’s main airport.
After conflict broke out in the Middle East, passenger numbers plummeted to 2.5 million in March, down 65.7 per cent year on year.
Flights were temporarily suspended in March as a fire broke out near the airport after a “drone-related incident”.
According to the most recent figures, DXB reported some 18.6 million passengers overall in the first quarter, down 20.6 per cent year on year.
India was Dubai airport’s largest country market in the first quarter with 2.5 million passengers, followed by Saudi Arabia at 1.3 million, the United Kingdom at 1.2 million and Pakistan at 918,000.
London remained DXB’s busiest city destination with 752,000 passengers, followed by Mumbai at 520,000 and Jeddah at 505,000.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “The extraordinary events of the past few weeks are unprecedented for any major airport hub such as DXB.
“Our focus has been on keeping operations safe and consistent for our customers through close coordination and rapid decision-making across the entire airport community and beyond, while ensuring the system remains ready to respond swiftly as conditions improve.”
The airport said it maintained operations under the constantly changing conditions since 28 February and had supported six million passengers, more than 32,000 aircraft and 213 tonnes of cargo as of 30 April.
Following the UAE lifting restrictions on airspace, Dubai Airports says it will enter a recovery phase by increasing daily flights and enabling airlines to restore schedules as much as neighbouring airspaces allow.
“International transfer traffic through the Middle East region accounts for a major share of the global air travel market, with 22.4 million annual passenger journeys flowing through DXB, representing one-third of the transfer traffic across the region’s hubs,” Mr Griffiths added.
“Maintaining the smooth operation of DXB is therefore critical to keep global journeys moving.”
Last year was the airport’s busiest in its history and the airport was aiming for a target of 99.5m passengers in 2026.
The world’s busiest airport is Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International airport, in the US, which surpassed 106m passengers last year.
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