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29 March 2024

Dubai Airports CEO rejects charges against Emirates, Dubai

Dubai Airports CEO rejects charges against Emirates. (FILE)

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By Staff

Allegations by France and Canada about subsidies and preferential treatment to Emirates airline are inaccurate and intended to malign the airline, Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer Paul Griffiths said on Wednesday.

Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said earlier this week that the European airlines will push for European Union action to slow the encroachment of Emirates and other Gulf carriers, saying the region’s status as an air-travel hub is under threat.“Europe is at the crossroads of international air travel, and this is a role we need to value and defend. What we’re telling the authorities is that we need a strategy that gives us a chance to resist,” he said in an interview.

Griffiths said: “The only thing Dubai is guilty of is providing an environment that actually supports aviation. Most governments around the world treat aviation as a pariah, choking its growth with costly, misdirected regulation, instead of adopting policies that recognise its considerable socio-economic benefits and support its sustainable growth. They then compound the problem with parasitic forms of taxation that usually flow straight out of the sector.”

He said: “In Dubai aviation is embraced as a strategic imperative. Another key to its success has been equal treatment of airlines. Dubai Airports and Dubai Air Navigation Services offer the same competitive rates and charges to all airlines. That, combined with the UAE’s open skies policy and the attractiveness of Dubai as a business and leisure destination, is why we have 130 airlines are operating into one of the fastest growing airports in the world.”