Air traffic between Dubai and Chinese cities has seen significant growth in recent times following all the restrictions and precautionary measures taken by the Chinese authorities since the start of the “Covid 19” pandemic in 2019 and the opening of Chinese markets. The number of weekly flights between Dubai and eight Chinese destinations increased from 14 flights per week last January to 54 flights per week last month, according to Dubai Civil Aviation Authority data. Dubai and China.

Steady rise

Majid Al Jokar, Chief Operating Officer of Dubai Airports, said the reopening of China’s borders is an important development that has provided a major impetus to support recovery levels in the travel and tourism sectors worldwide. recovery of the tourism industry) was previously described by the World Tourism Organization.

China was one of the fastest-growing tourism and aviation markets in the pre-pandemic years, so the move bodes well for passenger traffic growth in 2023 and beyond. And with the increase in the number of flights for airlines. , we expect a steady rise in passenger traffic to and from China via Dubai International Airport in the coming months, especially in the second quarter of this year.

Al-Jokar confirmed that there are 5 airlines operating between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Chinese destinations, including Emirates Airlines, as these companies operate approximately 54 weekly flights between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and 8 different destinations across China.

A strong appeal

For his part, Emirates Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Qasim said the Chinese market has strong demand as the company operates around 35 weekly flights to this market, indicating strong and full occupancy rates. The carrier has seen stronger summer bookings than in the pre-pandemic phase, amid increasing growth in its operations, while continuing to operate giant planes, increasing seat capacity and adding more flights to existing destinations.

Dubai has emerged strongly among the top 10 global destinations Chinese people plan to visit on their upcoming holidays, according to a Destination Index survey published by statistics and research firm “YouGov”. According to data from the Department of Economy and Tourism, the number of Chinese visitors to Dubai increased from 19,000 visitors in the first two months of 2022 to 52,000 visitors in January and February this year, a growth of 174%. Thus Dubai succeeded in recovering 24% visitors in a short period of time. Chinese tourists in the pre-pandemic period, which was 209 thousand visitors in January and February 2019.