Dubai Airports

 

Early results for global passenger traffic show continuing growth in March 2008, fueled by a very substantial increase – over 7% – in international traffic as compared to March 2007. How do you assess the global air transport industry?

 

What’s happening now is there is a huge polarisation of growth, and growth is happening in the Middle East because the Air Force here is facilitating much more transit traffic, as well as the fact that they’re growing in their own right. Also, the economic power here is gaining immense momentum and you’re not seeing a slowdown in large parts of the rest of the economy. So, I think this is a great place for growth for several different reasons. I think what’s happening is that more and more people are choosing to transit to the Middle East because of the high quality of the airline service in the Middle East, as well as the clearance on the ground and the ease of transit on landing.

How do you compare international growth to Dubai and the UAE? Growth here has been higher than the global average of 7%.

It has been much higher. For example, Dubai International Airport grew by 19% last year, whereas most other airports were growing by 4% at most; 4% or 5% maximum. So, because of the economic activity that is going on here, we are actually growing at a sustained rate that is significantly higher than other parts of the world.

Having travelled extensively and having lived in the Far East, how do you compare Dubai Airport to the rest of the world?

It’s interesting. I spent a lot of time in the Far East in the 1980s and there are significant similarities between life in Hong Kong, for example, in the 80s, compared to life in Dubai in 21^st century. There is that same desire to get things done; that economic powerhouse thriving on vision. There’s also a refreshing lack of bureaucracy. So, I think there are a lot of parallels between life in the growing Asian subcontinent during the 80s and the Middle East now.

But the politics are a little bit different?

The politics are different but I think here we’re even luckier in a way because we’ve got that sleek unanimity of purpose. Also, as there is effectively one man driving that, it makes for a much stronger agenda and a much more single-minded approach by everyone involved in the whole enterprise.

The group has undergone a restructuring and under the new structure the group comprises of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Airports, air traffic services and engineering projects and others. What are the main advantages of this new structure and you being a newly created commercial entity?

There is a lot of history of developments of aviation in various regions; it usually starts with the government controlling all the assets because it’s an investment in the national infrastructure. Then momentum grows and traffic grows and the economic success grows and you can afford to have some distance. I think the biggest thing that this creates is a clear distinction between what should be a government entity; safety, regulation, air traffic control, and all those things that you don’t need a commercial environment to sustain and really running an airport where, actually, you are competing with other airports who are constantly finding new commercial ways of being more successful. So, the model works and becoming the first CEO of the new entity is a great opportunity because it’s like starting afresh; building a new company from scratch. The interesting thing at the moment is the structuring that is going on is actually creating lots of opportunities for people as well.

What are those opportunities?

Government entities, traditionally, are not the best customer service enterprises. What we’re doing is we’re actually creating an environment here where the customer will be the ultimate judge of whether it’s successful or not. So, it’s giving people the opportunity to develop the concept, be innovative and work together with the other stakeholders; the airlines, and the handling agents, to make sure that everyone succeeds and the ultimate judge of that success is the customer.

How do you assess your degree of freedom? Are you a totally independent entity of the government or are there any connections?

Well, we’re wholly owned by the government but the good thing is we are given a freedom which is pretty broad and, although it’s a lot to do with personal relationships, I still feel that the degree of freedom that most people in my position in Dubai have is a lot more significant than it is in other parts of the world. For example, we don’t have regulation here, we don’t have a lot of bureaucracy, there’s not a lot of red tape, there’s not endless committees that you have to pass by before you can make the tiniest decision. That, actually, is a very liberating environment to be in.

Dubai International Airport overtook Singapore Changi in the first quarter to become the 6^th busiest airport worldwide. What makes you perform better than most of your competition on a year by year basis?

I think there are several things. First of all, being at the heart of a high economic growth region is a huge advantage. Secondly, the growth of aircraft technology, which means there are points in the world that can now be connected over Dubai that couldn’t be connected before. Lastly, having a base with some very high quality airlines here that people actually want to fly with. All those add up to a huge growth in traffic and that’s the reason for our success. Also, Dubai Airport has worked very hard on the ground to deliver quality of service that actually knows what the airlines are trying to do in the sky.

I can imagine that growing faster than any other airport in the world and ensuring that the customer service levels improve at the same time must be a very challenging task. What are your policies or strategies? How do you want to deal with this?

It is a very challenging task because, unfortunately, there tends to be a linear relationship between customer satisfaction and capacity, and once you start to run out of capacity, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain an exceptional level of customer satisfaction. What we’re doing is we’re developing a large number of new facilities that will not only provide growth for the airport and its airlines, but will also provide constant standards of customer service that are being offered, new, innovative ideas; spacious terminals, gardens inside the terminal, lots of different things, which I think will bring that customer “wow” back to the airport.

Are you closely cooperating with Dubai Duty Free?

We’ve got many business partners, and Dubai Duty Free is most definitely one of them. They form a major part of our retail experience, so we are interdependent really. They can’t be successful without us and vice versa. It has a fantastic reputation that has extended over a few decades as the best duty free in the world and I think that does hand us a lot of good.

You mentioned that one of the major challenges is to increase the efficiency of your assets as runway usage. Where does Dubai Airport stand in global ranking and what is your benchmark? What would you like to achieve?

Well, I came from an airport which was single runway and achieved up to 51 movements an hour and the number of movements on the runway here at Dubai International Airport is about 60 so there is lots of room to improve efficiency without any compromise in safety or capacity. We’re working very closely with ATS, the air traffic services here, to improve efficiency. Of course, it’s not just the airport; it’s got to be coming within the airspace in the region. So, that’s a very big initiative that we’re launching to be able to make sure that things work not just locally, but regionally as well.

I can imagine that the airspace above Dubai is getting more and more congested as there are free sky policies, which is itself very good but at the same time, how dangerous is it to fly to Dubai?

Well, it’s not at all dangerous. Air traffic services worldwide do not ever compromise air traffic safety if they’re properly run and I’m confident that that’s never an issue here, neither would we get to a point where safety is ever compromised. However, if you’re not going to compromise safety, then you are compromising capacity, and that’s the right way round. So, what we’ve got to make sure is that we develop systems, and that we have international agreements between countries in the region so that we can start to open up more and more airspace and put more and more aircraft through that airspace with techniques that ensure that safety is maintained at the high current level.

How are you progressing with this initiative?

We’re progressing well. We’re having good discussions with ATS, and we’re talking with the GCAA, the centralized administration authority for lots of the airspace. But I think the thing is, until we start joining up at the federal, regional level, this is something on which the governments have got to agree, then that’s when real progress will be made.

Another big issue is the traffic around the airport and congested road network. Do you cooperate with the Road and Transport Authority here?

The Road and Transport Authority here in Dubai is a very go-ahead organisation. We’ve got a very good working relationship with them and we’re constantly looking at ways of improving the traffic flow, providing relief, looking at extra roads and car parking, bus routes, forecourt management. We consider lots and lots of different initiatives to keep on top of the problem and the problem does continue to move.

Do you see an improvement in the future, when the new metro line is complete?

I think the new metro line will be very helpful and there’s talk of other metro lines as well, which will reduce the load on the airport. In Dubai and the rest of the Emirates, people are in love with their cars and it’s going to take time for that culture to change and get them out onto the railway.

You’re handling millions of people entering and leaving the country, transiting countries. This is their first experience of Dubai, you are representing the country. What are your major responsibilities developing Dubai?

I think our major responsibility is that we are actually part of the tourism of Dubai and 70% of traffic through Dubai, by the middle of the next decade, will actually be transiting. So, Dubai Airport really has to give a very strong impression of what Dubai’s all about to people so that when they next come through maybe they’ll stay awhile. It’s a tremendous opportunity to reach a market that the rest of Dubai doesn’t. We’ve got to deliver a quality service that will be very memorable for all the right reasons.

Dubai Airport promotes Dubai already as one of the best airports. It has been voted the best airport in 2001-2002. What are the effects that Dubai Airport has had on Dubai, directly and indirectly?

The fact that virtually all the people who arrive and depart from Dubai use the airport and the fact that the government has the foresight to invest heavily in expanding the airport has, undoubtedly, contributed to the success in Dubai. Dubai really is a huge partnership and there are a number of people here who work very closely together; in the hotel industry, in the transport industry, in the airport industry, in the airline industry – lots of different people who are really striving for the same thing. We’ll only be as good as the weakest link in that whole supply chain and I don’t want the airport to be that weakest link.

At the global aviation and environmental summit held 22^nd April in Geneva, the international aviation industry has signed a declaration of climate change to reach for lead towards carbon neutral growth growth in a wholly sustainable industry. What strategy is Dubai Airport adopting to cope with increasing environmental concerns?

The first thing is the Airbus A380, which is being ordered by Emirates here. We will have the largest fleet in the world and which is the world’s most ecologically-friendly aircraft. It has fewer emissions per seat than any other airplane. The second thing is, as we move forward, we believe we’ve got the opportunity to start providing GTL fuel at Dubai Airport, which is a gas-to-liquid technology being developed in the region, which actually is a zero sulfur fuel and also produces 20% less carbon emissions than any other jet fuel. So, we want to be an early adopter of that technology. The last thing is we’re building the largest airport in the world, and we’re designing that now, and we will be able to put into this design some significant ecologically-friendly features; for example, harnessing solar power, which seems to be here in abundance, and various other technologies, to ensure that our entire carbon footprint is drastically reduced.

Do you see yourself as a global leader in the future?

I think we probably will be because Dubai tends to like to take the cue in these things and certainly, we’ve been a slow starter, but I think we will be a fast finisher.

By mid-2008, Dubai International Airport will open Terminal 3. How are the works progressing? Are there any problems?

Things are progressing to schedule but, as we’ve seen from recent terminals opened elsewhere in the world, it’s a very significant undertaking to open an airport terminal; the systems are highly complex and it’s not something that you can do quickly and easily. So, we’ve fundamentally changed our strategy. Instead of going for the big bang philosophy and preparing an opening date well in advance, what we’re actually doing is we’re going for more of a soft approach by which we will gradually increase the number of flights in several ways, until the terminal is fully occupied. However, I think the biggest change is that we are putting many thousands of people through the airport through the next few months, to test the systems and technologies to ensure that, when the airport finally does open, we’ve got all the glitches out. We’re judging the opening date based on the state of readiness of the facilities, not by preparing a date and then blindly sticking to it even if we know that the airport will not be ready.

Dubai is spending $10 billion on building what will be the biggest airport in the world, with 6 runways and a capacity of 120 million passengers a year. How are you going to differentiate between the airports? How will they complement each other?

Firstly, the amount that we’re investing is three times that. We’re actually going to be investing between $30 and $40 billion in the infrastructure at Dubai World Central. Not only will this be the largest airport in the world but we’re actually going to be looking afresh at the whole concept of airport and terminal design because it’s going to be very difficult to be both the biggest and the best, but we’re determined to make sure that the whole customer experience through the airport is so radically different that it will be the best.

How are you going to achieve this?

I think the first thing is you’ve got to understand exactly what customers are looking for. Most people on arrival, for example, just want to get out of the airport in the fastest possible time, preferably with their baggage. So we’re working on techniques to get baggage recovery from the aircraft back to the passenger at a significantly faster rate than is currently possible. Also, the road, rail and air interface has to be very efficient and well laid out. We’re looking at ways of laying out the terminals, and roads and rail so as to be connected to the terminal, to make sure that we’re cutting the time that people will need to take to get between their plane and the particular mode of transport that they’ve taken to come to the airport.

On a personal note, you started with the airline industry and became a CEO only recently – last October. What is your ambition? What would you like to achieve here? What would you like Dubai to achieve?

I really want Dubai Airports to rightfully assume the crown as being the best airport company in the world. Airport companies are not known for delivering excellence in any way, shape or form. Most of them are heavily criticised by their users and I want people to be saying “why can’t you do this like Dubai” in Heathrow or “in Dubai they’ve managed to sort this problem out” and we want to really be a shining beacon to the world. If we achieve that then, certainly, I’ll be very happy.