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RG Richardson Communications News

I am a business economist with interests in international trade worldwide through politics, money, banking and VOIP Communications. The author of RG Richardson City Guides has over 300 guides, including restaurants and finance.

Some fear Dubai won’t be the same after attacks

 

Some fear Dubai won’t be the same after attacks

Explosion at Dubai airport

AFP/Getty Images

Since the war in Iran began, drone attack videos have coexisted with photos of influencers sipping on gold-flaked cocktails when it comes to Dubai’s image. Yesterday, an Iranian drone struck the Dubai International Airport, causing a fire. There were no injuries, but flights were paused for hours at what is, in peacetime, the world’s busiest airport for international travel.

Iranian attacks have killed four people in the UAE as Iran has retaliated against the campaign being waged by the US and Israel with strikes throughout the region. Shrapnel damaged several luxury landmarks in Dubai—shaking its reputation as an amenities-rich playground for the world’s wealthy that’s shielded from nearby regional conflicts.

Flight not flights

Dubai’s location between Europe and Asia made its main airport a natural global hub connecting 291 cities and serving 95 million passengers last year—among them 19.6 million tourists flocking to Dubai’s clubs, beaches, and shopping malls.

Now, the UAE’s flagship carrier, Emirates, famous for in-flight bougieness, has cut US-bound Airbus A380 flights by 51% in March, according to a Simple Flying analysis. Passengers flying to Dubai in recent days posted videos of eerily empty planes—to complement photos of the city’s usually bustling beaches and markets looking like ghost towns.

Besides tourists, Dubai’s economy rests on millionaires and white-collar expats continuing to live and spend there:

  • Some worry about permanent capital flight, with lawyers and asset managers telling the Wall Street Journal that clients have inquired about transferring money out of Dubai amid the conflict.
  • Dubai is particularly vulnerable to population loss as almost nine in 10 residents don’t have citizenship status and many lack a sense of rootedness in the city, urbanist Richard Florida argued in the New York Times.
  • Dubai has over 80,000 millionaires who are able to pack their bags in the case of a calamity.

Keep calm and carry on…appears to be the message from UAE authorities, who have banned posting photos of damage from Iranian attacks. The country’s president visited a Dubai luxury mall in the conflict’s early days to project business-as-usual vibes.

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