Heathrow and Dubai the World s Hub Airports Dubai International has grown rapidly in recent years and is now poised to overtake Heathrow as the world s busiest international airport. In this report, ACL compares and contrasts these two global hubs. ACL is the slot coordinator for both Heathrow and Dubai. We coordinate 35 airports handling 3 million flights and 350 million passengers each year. This analysis is based on the coordinated schedules for a peak week in Summer 2014.
Passengers (m) Development of the World s Hubs History of Growth 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Heathrow Dubai Dubai International (DXB) has grown exponentially in recent years doubling in size every 5-6 years. During the first 3 months of 2014, Dubai started to overtake Heathrow, handling 18.4m passengers compared to Heathrow s 16m passengers. Both hubs have benefited from strategic location and new aircraft technology in their development. Heathrow was at the forefront of the jet age and the development of intercontinental air travel, especially on the transatlantic. The inaugural B747 flight arrived at Heathrow on 22 January 1970, bringing affordable flying to the masses. Dubai is the leading Gulf region hub, with two-thirds of the world s population living within an 8 hour flight. Emirates is the leading A380 operator, and Dubai currently handles 40% of the world s A380 movements. May 2014 Heathrow and Dubai Page 2
Key Statistics Slots per week Seats per week Seats per slot 9547 1,987,550 208 +0.2% -0.4% -0.6% Slots per week Seats per week Seats per slot 7713 2,034,687 264 +5.7% +6.2% +0.4% Slots per week Seats per week Seats per slot 4893 925,511 189 51% share 47% share Slots per week Seats per week Seats per slot 3372 1,204,468 357 44% share 59% share 0% 20% 40% 60% 0% 20% 40% 60% British Airways Virgin Atlantic Lufthansa Aer Lingus American Airlines United Airlines SAS Air Canada Delta Emirates Others Slots Seats Emirates FlyDubai Qatar Airways Saudia Qantas Air India Express Indigo Air India Jet Airways Spicejet Others Slots Seats May 2014 Heathrow and Dubai Page 3
Movements per hour Movements per hour Capacity and Utilisation Heathrow is the most intensively used airport in the world. Capacity is fully utilised throughout the day, and night flying is strictly limited. The scarcity of slots means that there is no real bank structure to the hub. Dubai is a true 24h airport operation. The Emirates hub has distinct midnight and morning banks. Capacity of the close parallel runways is 30 slots/hour less than Heathrow. As Dubai grows, slot utilisation is increasing fast and the airport is now effectively full during 16h of the day. Average Capacity per hour Daily Capacity Busy Day Slots Allocated Slot Utilisation Heathrow Dubai 84* 54 1385 1288 1376 1129 99% 88% * Daytime average 0700-2159 Heathrow Capacity and Utilisation 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Time (local) Capacity Arr Dep Total Dubai Capacity and Utilisation 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Time (local) Capacity Arr Dep Total May 2014 Heathrow and Dubai Page 4
Departures per day Route Network Heathrow Dubai No of Airlines 83 96 No of Routes (of which, direct) 194 (184) 228 (221) Countries served 79 95 Route Frequency 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 DXB has a few very high frequency regional routes. LHR has more 5-10 x daily routes Routes DXB LHR Heathrow Dubai May 2014 Heathrow and Dubai Page 5
Top 10 Destinations Heathrow weekly slots Dubai weekly slots USA Germany UK France Switzerland Italy Ireland Spain Netherlands Canada 0 500 1000 1500 India Saudi Arabia Qatar Pakistan Kuwait UK Iran Bahrain Oman Russia 0 500 1000 1500 Heathrow weekly seats (000s) USA Germany UK UAE France Canada Italy Spain Ireland Switzerland 0 100 200 300 400 Dubai weekly seats (000s) India Saudi Arabia UK Qatar Pakistan Kuwait Australia USA Germany Iran 0 100 200 300 400 May 2014 Heathrow and Dubai Page 6
Fleet Mix Heathrow has 70% narrow body and 30% wide body aircraft operations 85% of aircraft have between 100-300 seat capacity. Dubai has 44% narrow body and 56% wide body aircraft operations. 38% of operations are with aircraft over 300 seats. Heathrow fleet mix B767 Other A380 B737 B747 A320 B777 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Aircraft Size Distribution <100 100-200 200-300 300-400 400-500 >500 A380 A330 A320 Dubai fleet mix Other A340 B777 Dubai Heathrow B737 May 2014 Heathrow and Dubai Page 7
Contact: Mr James Cole Director of ACL International james.cole@acl-international.com ACL International Capital Place 120 Bath Road Harlington, Hayes UB3 5AN www.acl-international.com