Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA-Dubai) has published new half-year figures showing that 9,464,057 travellers used its fully digital Smart Travel ecosystem between 1 January and 30 June 2026. More than 9 million passengers breezed through the 120 Smart Gates at Dubai International Airport (DXB), while a further 439,321 customers opted for the invitation-only Red Carpet ‘travel-without-borders’ lane that completes immigration formalities in an average of 3.4 seconds. The Smart Travel programme links biometric enrolment, AI-driven facial and iris recognition, and advance passenger risk screening into one seamless flow. Eligible passengers scan a passport once—usually when issuing or renewing their UAE ID card—and thereafter use their face as the boarding pass. According to Major General Talal Al Shanqiti, Assistant Director-General for Air Ports Affairs, the system can process up to ten travellers simultaneously, cutting average clearance times by 60 per cent and freeing officers to focus on higher-risk cases. The latest statistics highlight Dubai’s rapid post-conflict recovery and reinforce its status as the world’s busiest international hub. Passenger volumes rebounded strongly after the March–April regional airspace closures, and DXB is now tracking above its pre-2025 record of 89.1 million annual passengers. Officials credit the biometric corridor with helping the airport absorb the pent-up demand created when airlines resumed full schedules following the US–Iran cease-fire in April. For businesses, faster border processing means tighter connection windows, shorter door-to-door journey times for executives, and less dwell time for high-value cargo carried in passenger aircraft holds. Multinational employers are already instructing mobile staff to pre-register for Smart Gate access; GDRFA says advance enrolment reduces arrival processing to “look at the green light and walk”. Companies running large regional meetings in Dubai this autumn can bulk-enrol delegates online. Looking ahead, GDRFA confirmed that work is under way to extend the Red Carpet corridor to Terminal 2 and to enable passengers to add dependants to a single biometric profile—changes that will further streamline family travel during the year-end peak. The authority emphasised that Smart Travel forms part of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which seeks to double the city’s economy in ten years by positioning it as “the planet’s easiest place to visit, live and do business”.
Source: Gulf News
