Dubai airport transfers for every group.

Dubai airport transfer for groups of 7 to 50 and more

A Dubai airport transfer for a group is a different job from collecting one traveller. Twelve people land with twenty suitcases, a golf bag and a pram. A conference has delegates coming in on nine flights over two days. A wedding party flies in from three cities and lands in two different terminals. This page is about groups like these (families, company teams, tour groups, sports squads and event guests) and how we move them between Dubai International (DXB) or Al Maktoum International (DWC) and their hotels, in vans, minibuses and coaches with a professional driver.

Every vehicle is booked in advance and sized to your passengers and your bags. The price is fixed in a written quote that lists the airport parking, any Salik tolls on the route and the waiting allowance. We track every flight. If one lands early or two hours late, the pick-up simply moves. Travelling as one or two people by car? Our airport chauffeur service is the better page for you. Seven or more, read on.

Airport taxi or a pre-booked group transfer?

Dubai airport taxis are easy to find at the rank outside arrivals, and for a couple with light bags they work perfectly well. Groups are where it falls apart. A standard taxi takes up to four passengers and a few cases, so a family of nine with holiday luggage needs three cars and three meters, and the three drivers may well take three different routes to the hotel. Someone always arrives last. Someone else is stuck in the lobby holding everyone’s passports.

Book the transfer in advance and the group travels in one vehicle at a price agreed before the flight. Everyone walks out of arrivals together and the bags go into one luggage space. Late at night the price is the same as at noon, because we don’t add surge pricing for late arrivals or public holidays. Our rule of thumb: once the group would need a third taxi, ask for a van or minibus quote and compare.

Which vehicle for your group and its luggage

Seats in the table are passenger seats. Bags are medium suitcases, roughly 65 to 70 cm tall. Size the vehicle on whichever number runs out first.

Airport groups carry more than people expect. Holiday families often have more than one case each, golfers add a club bag and sports teams bring kit. When the bags outnumber the figure in the table, you have two choices: go up a size, or add a separate luggage van that leaves with the group and unloads at the hotel.

For a big family with a lot of luggage, our honest advice is often the mini coach rather than the Sprinter. It holds twenty bags against the Sprinter’s twelve, and its starting day rate is lower. Four to six people with modest luggage fit a luxury SUV, which can also travel alongside the bus for the hosts or a VIP on the same quote.

Groups that land on different flights

Large groups rarely arrive together. Wedding guests fly in from London, Mumbai and Riyadh. Conference delegates land all day. A club party gets split over two flights because the first one sold out. We handle split arrivals in one of three ways, and a single quote can mix them:

• One vehicle per flight. Each flight gets its own pick-up, sized to the people on it, and nobody waits for anybody.
• Collect and wait. When two flights land close together, the driver meets the first group, they wait in the arrivals hall for the second, and everyone leaves together. The waiting time is written on the quote, so you can set it against the cost of a second vehicle.
• Scheduled departures. On a heavy arrival day, vehicles leave the airport at set times, every ninety minutes for example, and each guest takes the next one after landing. For larger events a coordinator stays on the ground to run it.

Whatever you choose, send us a passenger list rather than a headcount. We need each traveller’s name, flight number, terminal, landing time, number of bags and hotel, and a plain spreadsheet is fine. We plan the vehicles from it and send the pick-up plan back with your quote.

DXB or DWC: which airport, and what changes

Dubai has two international airports and it matters which one your group uses. Dubai International (DXB) sits next to Al Garhoud and Deira and handles most passenger flights through Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) is in Dubai South, around 60 km away by road. It is being expanded, but for now it handles far fewer passenger flights. Check the airport code on every ticket in the group. A mix-up costs the best part of an hour.

Rough journey times outside the rush hours:

• DXB to Downtown Dubai and DIFC: around 15 to 25 minutes
• DXB to Dubai Marina, JBR and Palm Jumeirah: around 35 to 45 minutes
• DWC to Dubai Marina and JBR: around 30 to 40 minutes
• DWC to Downtown Dubai: around 40 to 55 minutes
• DWC to Abu Dhabi city: around 1 hour 15 minutes

Terminals matter too. Terminal 2 at DXB is on the far side of the airfield, 15 to 20 minutes by road from Terminals 1 and 3, so a group split between a flydubai flight and an Emirates flight can land in two separate buildings. Send every flight number and we confirm the terminals before the drivers set off. Our guide to meeting your driver at DXB walks through each arrivals hall.

Airport transfer to your hotel: the hotel end

The airport half of a transfer gets all the attention. The hotel half is where groups lose time. A 50-seater cannot always get under a hotel canopy, some resort entrances sit behind a security gate, and Dubai has more than one hotel with a nearly identical name in a different district.

So we ask for three things: the hotel’s full name and area, the entrance a van or coach can use, and the name of someone on reception or the travel desk. When the vehicle is big, we check the entrance with the hotel before the day. If a coach has to stop in a bay at the side, the driver tells your group leader before anyone steps off, and the bags come out in one go so the lobby does not fill up with trolleys.

Travelling as one to six people? The cars on the airport chauffeur page do the same hotel run with the same name-board arrival. The Metro, bus and taxi options are in our guide to getting from Dubai Airport to your hotel.

Landing before check-in

Many long-haul flights reach Dubai at night or at dawn, and a lot of hotels do not hand over rooms until the afternoon. Twenty tired people in a lobby at 5am with their bags is a poor start. Ask the hotel for early check-in, or at least bag storage, before the group flies, and get the answer in writing.

If the hotel cannot help, there are two workable plans. The group drops its bags, has breakfast and goes out with the same vehicle on a morning city loop, as on our city tour by private minibus page. Or you book the vehicle as a day instead of a transfer, so the luggage stays on board and the group is dropped at the hotel when the rooms are ready. The day prices on this page apply to the second plan.

One hotel or several, and what it does to the price

A transfer is priced per trip for the whole vehicle. Four things move the figure: the size of the vehicle, the airport, the hotel area and the number of stops. One hotel in Downtown is the short, simple run. The Marina, JBR and Palm Jumeirah are longer. Every extra hotel adds a stop and time.

If the group is split across hotels, send us who sleeps where. Two vehicles, one per hotel, are often quicker than one vehicle on a long loop, and we will say so on the quote when that is the case. Tour operators will find the planning side in hotel group transfers.

How a group is met in arrivals

The driver waits in the public arrivals hall, past customs, holding a name board. Put the group’s name on it (the wedding, the company or the tour), not one person’s. That way every traveller recognises it as they come through the doors.

Pick a group leader with a phone that works in the UAE. The leader counts heads in the hall, tells the driver when everyone is through, and takes the call if someone is held at immigration or reporting a lost bag. If a group does one thing to make its arrival easier, it should be this.

Pre-booked vehicles generally can’t wait at the arrivals kerb, and larger vehicles park where the airport allows them to. Your confirmation tells you where the group will be met and where the vehicle is waiting, and the driver walks everyone there with the trolleys. With thirty people, allow fifteen minutes or so between the meeting point and the coach pulling away. Thirty people’s luggage takes time to load, however well it’s done.

Conferences, sports teams, tour groups and weddings

Conference and incentive groups

Delegates usually land the day before an event at the Dubai World Trade Centre or Expo City Dubai, and often late at night. Scheduled departures from the airport and a Sprinter or an executive car for the speakers cover the arrivals. Put the event days and the departures on the same quote and the whole programme is in one place. Companies that book regularly can run it through a corporate account with one monthly invoice.

Sports teams and clubs

Teams carry kit bags, ball bags, bikes or golf clubs on top of their suitcases. The 50-seater’s under-floor holds swallow a squad’s equipment without blocking the aisle. For youth teams and clubs of up to thirty, the mini coach is usually right. Mention anything oversized when you book.

Tour groups and family reunions

If the group is touring the city the next day, keep the same vehicle and driver for the whole visit: arrival, sightseeing days and departure on one quote. Our minibus rental page covers multi-day hire for up to thirty people.

Wedding guests

Send us the guest list with flight numbers. We plan the arrivals, assign vehicles by family or party size and take everyone to their hotel, while the bridal cars run to the planner’s timetable. On the day itself, guest shuttles work as described on our wedding and event transport page.

Departures: getting the whole group to the airport on time

Group departures need more margin than a single traveller. Most airlines ask for around three hours before an international flight, and forty people checking in together take far longer at the desks than a couple does. We work the pick-up time back from your flight, allow for the traffic at that hour, and the driver is at the hotel ten minutes early.

Ask the hotel to bring the bags down before the group gathers, so loading happens while people check out. If the group is spread over several hotels, we plan the order so the first hotel isn’t sitting on board for an hour. Sometimes two smaller vehicles beat one long loop, and we’ll say so.

Plenty of group flights leave late at night. Instead of paying for late check-out, book the vehicle for the day. The luggage stays on board while the group spends a last afternoon in the city, then you go straight to the airport.

From Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or Ras Al Khaimah airports

Some groups find better fares into Sharjah International or Zayed International in Abu Dhabi. Others land at DXB but are staying up in Ras Al Khaimah or down in Abu Dhabi. Nothing changes in how they’re met: tracked flights, a name board in arrivals, a vehicle sized to the bags. Rough drive times outside the peaks:

• Sharjah Airport to Downtown Dubai: around 35 to 50 minutes, and much longer in the weekday rush
• Zayed International (AUH) to Dubai Marina: around 1 hour
• DXB to Al Marjan Island, Ras Al Khaimah: around 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes

For one to three people, our published sedan fares start from AED 120 one way for the Sharjah Airport transfer, from AED 300 one way for the Abu Dhabi Airport transfer and from AED 300 one way to Ras Al Khaimah. Vans, minibuses and coaches on these routes are quoted for the vehicle you need.

What a group airport transfer costs

An airport transfer is priced per trip for the whole vehicle, not per passenger. That means the cost per head drops as the group grows. What goes into the figure: the size of vehicle, which airport, where you’re going, how many hotels it stops at, how much waiting the plan needs, and whether there’s a luggage van. Airport parking and any Salik tolls are on the quote. Nothing is paid on the day.

If you want the vehicle for longer, say an arrival followed by a city tour, a day rate applies instead. That is from AED 900 per day for the 13-seater van, from AED 1,100 per day for the 30-seater mini coach and from AED 1,450 per day for the 50-seater coach, each for up to 10 hours within Dubai with driver and fuel. Our bus rental price guide lists every vehicle with its starting price.

Here is how we’d plan four typical arrivals. They are illustrations, not quotes.

Example: a family reunion, 11 people. Eleven relatives land at DXB Terminal 3 at 02:40 with fourteen large cases and two prams. The 13-seater van takes the people but not the luggage, and the Sprinter only takes twelve bags. We’d send the 30-seater mini coach and get everyone and everything there in one vehicle.

Example: a football academy, 38 players and staff. The squad is on two flights fifty minutes apart. One 50-seater meets the first flight, waits for the second, and the kit bags ride in the holds.

Example: a conference, 120 delegates over one day. Arrivals are spread across Terminals 1 and 3. A mini coach and a Sprinter run departures every ninety minutes and a 50-seater covers the evening peak. It all sits on one quote.

Example: an incentive group, 44 guests at DWC. They land in the evening and are staying in Dubai Marina. One 50-seater meets them, and the drive to the hotels takes around 30 to 40 minutes.

What to send us when you book

• The passenger list: names, flight numbers, terminals and landing times
• The luggage, counted, plus golf bags, prams, bikes, wheelchairs or equipment
• Every hotel address, and whether the hotel sends coaches to a side entrance or a coach bay
• The group leader’s name and mobile number
• Any mobility needs, and the ages of children who need child seats (free on request in our cars, SUVs and vans)
• The departure flights, if you want the return journeys on the same quote

Use the quote card on this page or the booking page. You can also send the list on WhatsApp to +971 54 126 1681 or email it to info@dubaibusservices.com. A fixed, written quote usually follows within the hour, and nothing is charged until you confirm. Changes and cancellations follow the terms on your written quote. For coaches and big arrivals between October and April, book at least two weeks ahead.

Prices for these vehicles

Starting prices with driver and fuel, within Dubai. Hourly hire has a minimum number of hours, confirmed on your quote. Monthly prices are for a daily staff route; the route, hours and working days are confirmed on your quote. Your written quote gives the exact price for your date and route.

Related: Airport Chauffeur · Meeting your driver at DXB · Minibus rental Dubai · 50-Seater Coach · Get a quote

Keep reading

• Dubai Airport to your hotel: Metro, bus, taxi rank, app ride, hotel transfer or a driver in arrivals: how to reach your hotel from DXB, area by area.
• Al Maktoum Airport (DWC) transfer: Groups landing at Al Maktoum International (DWC): the one terminal, drive times to the Marina, JLT, Expo City and Downtown, and the right van or coach.
• Dubai Airport to Downtown Dubai: From DXB to Downtown, Business Bay and DIFC hotels: the crossings, the rush hours, the drop-off at each tower and a vehicle sized to your bags.
• Dubai to Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH): From any Dubai address to Zayed International, timed back from your flight and quoted in writing.
• Rolls-Royce airport transfer: Met in the arrivals hall and driven to your door in a Rolls-Royce, with a second car for the luggage if needed.
• Dubai to Sharjah Airport (SHJ): Around the Dubai-Sharjah traffic to Sharjah Airport, with the pick-up timed to your flight.