Dubai Airports: Qantas' decision to transfer from Dubai to Singapore does not represent challenge

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths responded to Qantas' decision to transfer from Dubai back to Singapore, stating he does not believe it represents a growing challenge for the airport (Bloomberg, 26-Sep-2017). He said services through Dubai between Europe and Australia will grow as a result of Emirates' increased frequencies, which will occur when Qantas moves some of their traffic to Singapore in Mar-2018. He said Dubai is "very well spread", with the airport expecting approximately 1.3 billion additional passenger journeys to terminate or originate within Asia by the mid 2030s. Dubai Airports is "very bullish about growth", Mr Griffiths, noting growth has continued unabated. Mr Griffiths said "we have not lost anything to Singapore", adding the airport is growing is much faster than airports in its peer group and Dubai Airports "are very very confident that our growth will continue to outstrip all of the competitor airports around the region".