Dubai airport arrivals still on the up

According to him, passenger movement at some of the world's top 10 airports had slipped by 15%.

Last year DXB saw its passenger numbers increase by 9% to 37.4 million. In the first quarter of 2009, passenger traffic was 9.5m, an increase of 2% over last year.

"We will maintain a positive situation. Whether we end the year on positive growth, all depends on what happens [to the world economy] in the next few months," he said.

The airport has an annual capacity to handle 60m passengers and that number is posed to grow to 75m by 2012 and to 80m by 2018.