The commercial revenues for Dubai Airports has increased 16 per cent on year in the first half of this year that has been achieved by a surge in passenger traffic, the company’s CEO, Paul Griffiths revealed on Sunday.

Speaking to The Gulf Today at the Meydan hotel during a Suhoor hosted by Dubai Airports, Griffiths at the same time said that Dubai Airports have been negotiating with regional and international airlines on the possibility of operating from the Dubai World Central (DWC), adding that the option is open to them, though no contract has been signed as such.

“Dubai International will be running out of capacity soon and we are already witnessing congestion, so moving to DWC will be an option for airline operators though we will not be forcing them to do so,” explained Griffiths.

He noted that the commercial revenue growth this year is higher than even the rate of growth of passengers.

He said the situation in the GCC and the Middle East had an impact in the distribution of traffic and therefore we have recorded growth consistent to previous years.

The CEO said that Dubai Airports is ahead of the budget in terms of revenues, which has actually exceeded their expectations.

Dubai Airports, which runs both Dubai International and DWC has seen soaring international traffic over the last few years, helped by the rapid growth of Emirates Airline, as the emirate consolidates its position as a key global transport hub in the Middle East.

Dubai Airports last month announced that its passenger traffic at the international airport had registered 13.7 per cent increase in the first six months of the year, and has been described as the busiest first half in its history.

This has therefore put it on track to meet its annual target of 56.5 million passengers.

We are definitely ahead of the budget and revenue, exceeding our expectations and have seen traffic increasing as we continue to experience very strong and significant growth with a positive indication of the financial strength, he added.

Already 22 cargo companies have registered at the DWC and are operating in full swing, handling almost 10,000 tons of cargo per month.

Dubai Airports had announced a $ 7.8 billion airport expansion programme which is expected to boost capacity at Dubai International from 60 million to 90 million passengers per year by 2018.

It raised $ 1.75 billion via a six-year syndicated loan in July through Dubai Duty Free, the state-owned company that operates tax-free shops at Dubai International.