In an exclusive interview with CNN, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, dismissed any long-term concerns regarding the sector's trajectory, asserting: "We trust the capacities of the aviation industry in Dubai. If you look at all of the things that we've had to deal with over the last 20 years or so, we have bounced back and taken the opportunity to continue the growth and influence on global aviation that we always have done in the past. So now onward and upward." Regarding the operational response to recent challenges, Griffiths stated that the ability to detect and respond to threats has been highly effective: "Firstly, the ability to detect and respond to threats as they've unfolded have been very, very effective and efficient. We've closed airspace, we've opened it. That's the threat level has changed and we've been able to keep the aircraft in the air and obviously to route through corridors that are properly designated by the GCAA across here and obviously holding aircraft at outstation, making sure that they can be safely diverted." He highlighted significant recovery milestones and the scale of passenger support, noting: "We facilitated the journeys of over 1,000,000 passengers over the last 17 days and the recovery rate is significant. We're back up to about 40-45% of normal traffic movements. In a normal day we would handle something like 320,000 customers through DXB. So when that supply chain gets interrupted it's incredibly important that we keep people informed, keep people already at the airport safe and secure whilst we dealt with the backlog and got people to the places they needed to be." The CEO added that the strategic measures have yielded positive results: "That seems to have worked pretty well. The airport has remained calm and composed and the many different comments we're getting from our customers, I think suggests that for the most part, we're doing a reasonably good job." Underscoring Dubai's strategic importance, where two-thirds of the world’s population lives within an eight-hour flight, Griffiths concluded with a firm pledge: "The world cannot do without that. We are very, very convinced we are doing everything we can to preserve both the capability and the confidence to bring our operations up to 100% capacity as quickly as we possibly can."