CAPA names Dubai’s Griffiths top Asia CEO

The first CAPA Asia Pacific Airport CEO award has been given to Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths for his ‘outstanding strategic thinking and innovative direction for the growth of their business and the industry.’

The award was presented by CAPA Executive Director Peter Harbison in Singapore on 23 November, with Griffiths singled out for ‘successfully managing Dubai through a massive expansion programme and completing an unprecedented runway improvement project’.

“In 2014 Mr. Griffiths oversaw one of the largest ever runway improvement projects, which required Dubai to operate with only one runway for three months,” said Harbison. “Despite the runway closures, Dubai was able to overtake Heathrow in 2014 as the world’s biggest international airport as passenger throughput increased by 6% to 70.5 million.”

Now in its thirteenth year, CAPA’s Aviation Awards for Excellence are intended to reward airlines and airports that are not only successful, but have also provided industry leadership in ever-changing environments.

In its tribute to Griffiths, CAPA noted that much of the UAE’s economic success comes from the performance and growth of Dubai International where he became CEO of Dubai Airports in 2007.

He has since managed the airport’s successful launch of T3 (2008) and is now in the process of overseeing a $7.8bn expansion plan, including Concourse D which will open in 2016 providing 32 additional gates.

This will increase Dubai’s passenger handling capacity from 75m to 90m. Griffiths is also heading up the ongoing operation and development of Dubai World Central (DWC), which will eventually become the world’s largest airport with an ultimate capacity of 240m passengers.