Infrastructure

Dubai Begins Work on the World’s Biggest Airport

The facility will be five times the size of Dubai International Airport.

Updated on

May 17, 2024

An impression of the upgraded Al Maktoum Airport. PHOTO | FILE

Dubai has begun the construction of a $35 billion terminal for Al Maktoum International Airport, which aims to become the world’s largest airport.

The project, which involves the construction of five terminal buildings, will enable the airport, located in Jebel Ali – 37km southwest of Dubai, to handle up to 260 million people a year.

The new facility will be five times the size of Dubai International Airport, the world’s second-busiest airport with an annual capacity of 87 million passengers.

It will cover an area of 35,000 acres.

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., is the world’s busiest airport, handling about 105 million passengers annually.

According to Dubai’s Prime Minister and Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, plans are underway to build a city around the airport, sparking a surge in demand for housing to accommodate a million people.

“The airport will accommodate 400 aircraft gates and feature five parallel runways. As we build an entire city around the airport in Dubai South, demand for housing for a million people will follow,” Sheikh Mohammed said on X.

The city will host companies in the logistics and air transport sectors.

The decision to upgrade the airport was made due to limitations on expansion at Dubai International Airport caused by surrounding developments.

Indeed, all Emirates and Flydubai operations at Dubai International Airport will be transferred to Al Maktoum, also known as Dubai World Central, by 2034.

The planning for the airport expansion has been underway for years, starting with the completion of Concourse 1’s substructure and the West Terminal building in a $2.7 billion package. The project later stalled amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Phase one of the airport opened in 2010 with two runways.

Upon completion in 2030, Al Maktoum Airport will have 400 gates and five parallel runways on a 17,000-acre development. The gates will be divided between four concourses, each with a floor area of 2.3 million m sq.

“We are building a project for future generations, ensuring continuous and stable development for our children. Dubai will be the world’s airport, its port, its urban hub, and its new global centre,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

According to Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of Dubai Airports, the expansion of Al Maktoum Airport will strengthen Dubai’s position as a global hub for air travel.

“The growth of Dubai has always been hand-in-hand with the growth of its aviation infrastructure, and today we see another bold step on that journey,” Griffiths said.