Passengers departing from any of Dubai’s airports will be required to pay a fee of AED35 ($9.5) from 1 July, following the approval of an executive resolution for the collection of such fees.

The fees will apply to all departing passengers, with the exemption of children under two years old, airline crew, and transit passengers arriving and departing using the same flight number.

The fee will be collected by the airlines issuing the tickets. The fees will then be transferred to Dubai Airports and eventually to the government treasury.

The resolution aims to improve the emirate’s airport infrastructure and support future expansion projects.

Some 78 million passengers passed through Dubai International airport in 2015. Numbers have increased by about 10 per cent each year, and assuming outbound passengers account for half of all travellers, then the estimated annual revenues from collecting the service fee would be about $400m.

Airports in Dubai aim to handle 100 million passengers by 2023. Apart from Dubai International, the emirate operates a second airport, Al-Maktoum International, which opened in 2013.

A major expansion of the second airport is planned. With a budget estimated at $33bn, the expansion will result in Al-Maktoum International becoming the world’s largest airport by 2025, with a capacity to handle 130 million passengers annually. Subsequent phases of the scheme are expected to bring total capacity to more than 220 million passengers by 2050.