Dubai Airports made no layoffs despite regional conflict: CEO Paul Griffiths

Dubai Airports did not make any employees redundant despite months of regional military conflict that disrupted air travel and forced airlines to suspend or reduce operations, its CEO Paul Griffiths has said.

Griffiths told Khaleej Times that employee morale at Dubai Airports remained high throughout the crisis, praising staff for their resilience and commitment during a period of significant disruption to the aviation sector.

“We didn’t make anyone redundant,” Griffiths said, adding that employees demonstrated “resilience, commitment and dedication” throughout the conflict.

The regional conflict disrupted aviation operations across the Gulf, with airspace closures and flight suspensions affecting Dubai International Airport (DXB) and airlines operating to the region. Dubai Airports subsequently revised its passenger growth expectations for 2026 and 2027.

Griffiths said DXB is now seeing signs of recovery, with month-on-month passenger traffic improving during the second quarter. He expects the airport to return to a full schedule by the end of the third quarter as airlines gradually restore services.

Dubai Airports currently connects 56 airlines with 236 cities across 100 countries. Griffiths said more routes are returning each week, while Air France has resumed Dubai operations with strong load factors.

He expects European and US airlines to restore more capacity from the end of October as the winter travel season begins.

Despite the disruption, Griffiths remains confident that DXB can retain its position as the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic.

The airport’s 2026 passenger forecast has been reduced to around 70 million, from an earlier projection of 100 million. Griffiths, however, expects passenger numbers to recover and reach the 100 million mark in early 2027.

“We’re pretty confident that by the year-end, we’ll be back in that position for international travel,” he said, noting that the first six months of the year should not be viewed as an indicator of the airport’s longer-term strength.

DXB has held the top position for international passenger traffic for nearly 12 years, and Griffiths said Dubai Airports remains confident of retaining the title despite the temporary decline in traffic.