The major international hub has done it again…

If you’ve travelled at any point via the Dubai International (DXB) last year and seen how busy it is, this shouldn’t be surprising news, but the airport has retained its title of the ‘world’s busiest international airport’.

The report was released by Official Airline Guide (OAG) – a global travel data provider that looked into data from January to December 2023. As per the report, OAG stated that DXB was the busiest global airport for 2023 with 57 million seats (56,504,042 million to be more precise).

The airport was also named the busiest in 2022 (45 million seats) and 2019 (53 million seats).

According to OAG’s report, London Heathrow Airport (LHR) is in second place with 47 million seats, followed by Amsterdam Airport (AMS) being the third busiest international airport with 37.2 million seats.

Other airports that made the list include Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, Istanbul Airport, Frankfurt International Airport and Doha Airport.

Future plans for DXB

Dubai International Airport (DXB) is set to undergo a dramatic expansion and upgrade to become a full-scale ‘smart’ airport. The enhancements to DXB will come at an eye-watering cost of between Dhs6 billion and Dhs10 billion, according to Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports‘ CEO.

It’s all part of a wider plan to ensure DXB remains the world’s busiest international hub, and also becomes a full-scale ‘smart’ airport.

The upgrades will take place over the next five to seven year and will include new commercial and restaurant partnerships, creating more circulation space, adding more lounges and relaxation areas, and increasing the number of check-in counters.

The expansion at DXB is intended to allow the airport to grow to its maximum capacity over the next 10 to 15 years.

Thereafter, it’s expected that operations will begin moving over to Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC). Earlier this year, plans were unveiled for DWC to be transformed into the world’s biggest airport by 2050, with a capacity to serve more than 260 million passengers. Phase 1 is expected to be completed by 2030, where it will support an annual capacity of 130 million.

Images: DXB

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