Dubai airport traffic plunges 66% amid Iran-UAE tensions

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Dubai airport’s passenger traffic plunged by two-thirds in March following Iran’s attacks on the United Arab Emirates during the Middle East war, the emirate’s media office said in a statement on Monday.

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Traveller numbers at Dubai International, usually the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic, sank to 2.5 million, down 66 percent year on year, Dubai Media Office said.

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The airport endured “a period of regional disruption that significantly constrained airspace capacity and flight schedules”, it said.

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“With airspace within the UAE now fully restored, Dubai Airports is moving decisively to scale up operations, increasing flight movements in line with available regional routing capacity.”

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Dubai International was targeted several times by drones as the oil-rich UAE bore the brunt of Iran’s retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.

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Quarterly traffic was down 21 percent to 18.6 million in the first quarter of 2026. Dubai International handled a record 95.2 million passengers last year, and had been expecting to receive 99.5 million this year.

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“The extraordinary events of the past few weeks are unprecedented for any major airport hub,” Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths was quoted as saying in the statement.

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AFP

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