The Director of Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department, Brigadier Saeed Matar bin Beleilah, recently visited the Passport Section at Dubai International Airport to inspect operations and to make sure that the department is fully geared-up to handle the major increase in passenger flow during Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) 2006, that will run from January 4th to February 4th.
During his visit, Brigadier bin Beleilah held a meeting with Lt. Colonel Jassem Abdel Ghaffour, Assistant Director, in charge of air and land ports, DNRD, Lt.Colonel Rashed Bekhit, Assistant Director for feedback and investigation and various heads of the passport department and their assistants. The meeting involved discussions on various issues related to current and future developments at the airport, as well as the necessary arrangements required to handle the major surge in tourist inflow expected during the period of the shopping festival.
Bin Beleilah said, “Dubai International Airport has been witnessing a constant increase in arrivals, as hoards of people have been coming to Dubai to participate in the different events the city has been hosting, from festivals and conferences to exhibitions and fairs. Dubai attracts visitors from across the world all through the year, due to the emergence of the Emirate as a leading shopping, tourism and business hub. The major developments in the real estate, investment and entertainment sectors have also contributed to the significant growth in tourist inflow to Dubai.”
The latest statistics from Dubai Civil Aviation show that passenger movement at Dubai International Airport during the first half of the current year reached 11.8 million, which is an increase of 13.7 per cent compared to the 10.4 million passengers during the same period last year. It is expected that the number of passengers will touch 25 million in the current year and 60 million by the year 2010. Dubai Airport has recorded growth averages of 10 to 15 per cent yearly, during the past decade.
“We are confident that all the employees of DNRD will do their best to ease and speed up entry and exit processes at the airport, to guarantee highest quality of services to passengers,” added Bin Beleilah.
During his meeting with officers of the Passport Section, Bin Beleilah also discussed the future plans for the passport department in the airport, which aims at adopting the latest technologies to ease and speed the travel procedures, to support the increase in passenger traffic at the airport. Bin Beleilah also examined the latest developments in the Terminal 3 building of the airport, which has been under construction for the past year, to accommodate the expected future increase in passenger movement at Dubai International Airport.
With regard to commercial flights, the UAE News Agency (WAM) has reported an increase of 64 per cent, in the average number of flights. In the first half of 2004, the number of flights reached 2,022, while in the first half of this year, this figure increased to 3,310. Dubai Airport is used by over 100 airline companies which direct their flights to over 140 cities around the world. The flights which pass through the airport have increased by 11.4 per cent to reach 105,000 flights compared to 95,000 flights last year. As for cargo, 626,000 tons were transported this year, compared to 535,000 last year, which is an increase of 17 per cent.
