Dubai airport passenger traffic drops 66 percent over Mideast war

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DUBAI: Dubai International (DXB), traditionally the world’s busiest hub for international travel, recorded a massive 66% drop in passenger traffic for March 2026. The Dubai Media Office confirmed that traveller numbers plummeted to 2.5 million, down from previous year-on-year levels, following Iranian drone attacks on the UAE.

The airport faced severe operational constraints as regional conflict significantly restricted airspace and forced major flight schedule changes. Despite the downturn, quarterly traffic for the first three months of 2026 reached 18.6 million, a 21% decrease compared to the same period last year.

With UAE airspace now fully restored, Dubai Airports is decisively scaling up operations to align with available routing capacity. CEO Paul Griffiths described the disruption as ‘unprecedented,’ noting that the airport had previously been on track to welcome nearly 100 million passengers this year.