India’s airport expansion plans need revised seat agreements: Dubai airport CEO

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. Photo: media.dubaiairports.ae

The development of airport infrastructure in India and fulfilling India’s ambitions to grow them into hubs that can transfer passengers from different connecting points must be supported by a revision in seat capacities permitted between two countries, said Dubai Airport CEO Paul Griffiths.

“The development of airport infrastructure in India is obviously going to be welcomed because there will be many more points where it will be possible to have direct service to the UAE, particularly to Dubai. Of course, the bilaterals will need some revisions to be able to make the points possible,” he told The Hindu on the side lines of a Airports Council International event.

He was addressing a question on the Centre’s efforts to develop Indian airports as hubs to reduce traffic leakage to major international airports.

The Centre plans to take up 50 airport development projects in the next five years. These include new airports, as well as expansion of existing ones.

Additional seats

The UAE has been pushing for an additional 50,000 weekly seats for Dubai in the bilateral air service agreement. It currently allows 66,000 seats a week between the UAE and India, a quota fully utilised by airlines of both sides. The proposal includes a 4:1 seat allocation formula, allowing Indian carriers to operate four additional seats for every extra seat granted to UAE airlines. This ratio would gradually shift to 3:1, 2:1, and eventually 1:1 over a specified period, phasing in the changes systematically.

Smaller aircraft

Mr. Griffith is also of the opinion that the world is moving away from a hub approach for developing airports as the evolution of aircraft technology has enabled smaller aircraft to connect remote airports in a cost-effective manner.This, he said, will mean that in the years to come the number of aircraft with very large capacities will be fewer compared with the number of smaller aircraft capable of flying long distances.

The UAE’s second airport – Dubai World Central (DWC), or Al Maktoum International Airport, will replace Dubai International Airport (DXB) as its main hub by the mid-2030s. A $35 billion expansion, approved in April 2024, targets 260 million passengers annually by 2050 with five runways, 400 gates, and eight concourses. When it opens after phase one of expansion in 2027, it will have three runways, nearly 120 gates, and a150 million passenger capacity.

Theme-based terminals

Mr. Griffiths said DWC could have different terminals based on country themes such as an India or America. This would entail one terminal for airlines with same destinations. So an Indian theme terminal “would not mean only Indian airlines, but it will cluster flights [of different airlines] in the most effective ways, so the tracks are optimised, as we would want to minimise walking distances.” Similarly, there could be Europe and Australasia terminals.

In 2024, Dubai, the world’s busiest travel hub logged a total of 92 million passengers of which 12 million travelled to India. 55% of airport users were visiting Dubai as a final destination, while 45% used it as a connecting hub.