Dubai airport faces no immediate challenge from Indian airports, and its expansion plans would enable it to retain competitive edge over other airports, the company managing the Gulf Emirate’s airport had said.
The assertion comes at a time when Indian government had announced plans to develop Delhi and Chennai as aviation hubs.
Dubai’s popularity among Indian travellers could be gauged from the fact that it served as a transit point for 2.68 million Indians in 2010-11, according to civil aviation ministry data. A total of 37 million Indians flew abroad that year, including 11.4 million who travelled via hubs abroad. Doha served as a transit point for 0.85 million Indians, and Frankfurt and Singapore catered to 0.77 million and 0.74 million transit passengers in same year, respectively.
The government’s plan to develop aviation hubs in India thus poses a challenge to Dubai, which relies heavily on India for its passenger numbers.
Dubai Airports, the company running the airport, however seems unperturbed by developments in India.
“As a major international hub, Dubai International faces global competition from some very good airports worldwide, including a few that have recently come up in India. However, with the recently announced $7.8 billion expansion plan — that would see our capacity increase from 60 million passengers per annum to 90 million passengers by 2018. Coupled with our unique aviation model and focus on customer service, we believe that Dubai Airports would continue to retain its competitive edge,” Dubai Airports Vice-President (marketing & corporate communications) Anita Mehra said in an emailed response.
Dubai airport handled 51 million passengers last year, including 6.8 million passengers from India, making it one of the largest markets for Dubai. Traffic between India and Dubai increased by seven per cent in the first quarter of 2012, reaching 1.82 million, compared to 1.70 million during the same period in 2011, Mehra added.
What sets apart Dubai from Indian airports is the number of transfer or transit passengers handled there. In Dubai, transit passengers account for 45-50 per cent of all passengers. For Doha, it is 61 per cent. In contrast, Mumbai and Delhi it is only 12 per cent and nine per cent, respectively.
“We have to evaluate every process and experience that an international tourist into India goes through from entry to exit. Just building great airports will not make India an aviation hub,’’ said Amber Dubey, partner and head (aviation), KPMG.
Other aviation experts said the key behind successful hubs was creating superior passenger experience and wide connections. A strong carrier is vital for a hub, they said.
Dubey, however, feels Dubai would feel the pinch as Indian carriers expand their global network and other EU and US carriers increase their services in India.
