DUBAI, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Dubai International Airport (DXB) will fall short of its 2017 passenger target, which was set at around 90 million passengers, said Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, the holding firm of DXB.
Griffiths made the remarks at a media pre-briefing on the biennial Dubai Airshow 2017 scheduled during Nov. 12-16.
He said "in the airline industry you must always expect the unexpected," referring to number of setbacks such as the U.S. laptop ban or the ongoing Qatari crisis, which started on June 5 this year.
Since then, the airspace of Dubai remains closed for aircraft flown by government-controlled carriers Qatar Airways and Qatar Executive Jet.
Moreover, on July 20, the United States had ended a four-month long laptop ban for U.S.-bound direct flights from several airports in the Middle East including DXB.
Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), confirmed earlier that the laptop ban had an impact on passenger demand, as the international carrier of the UAE reduced flight frequencies on five of its routes to the United States.
Despite these hurdles, "we had some extraordinary achievements this year, as we exceeded 8 million passengers a month, lasting three months so far," said Griffiths.
"Short-term obstacles must never be the management guideline at DXB. It is important for airports to take a long-term strategic view," he added.
Griffiths has predicted in 2016 that DXB, the world's busiest civil aviation hub, would target more than 90 million travelers in 2017.
In 2016, annual traffic at DXB increased by 7.2 percent to reach 83.6 million passengers.
