Dubai International (DXB)

Dubai International is the busiest airport in the world for international passengers, a title it has held since 2014, and second-busiest overall with 95.2 million travelers in 2025. From a city-center site of just two runways, it hosts the entire all-widebody Emirates operation at Terminal 3 plus flydubai's network at Terminal 2, connecting every inhabited continent over the Gulf.

DXB is a study in maximum utilization: hemmed in by Dubai itself, it cannot grow much beyond about 120 million passengers, so the emirate has approved a $35 billion expansion of Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central, planned as the largest airport in history with capacity for 260 million, to which operations will progressively shift in the 2030s. Regional airspace crises in 2025 and 2026 tested the hub's resilience without denting its crown.

Each airline below links to its AeroTime reference page.

Terminals & infrastructure

DXB squeezes the world's biggest international operation onto just two runways and three terminals, with Terminal 3, built for Emirates, among the largest buildings on Earth. The site is hemmed in by the city, so its ceiling is fixed near 120 million passengers, which is why Dubai approved the $35 billion move to Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central, set to take over in the 2030s as the largest airport ever built.