Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport is set to become the world's biggest airport, capable of handling 200 million passengers each year and up to 100 Airbus A380 aircraft at any one time.
The early phase of the design project incorporates two satellite buildings with a collective capacity of 120 million passengers annually, before later expanding further to reach the 200 million figure.
All up, the A$35 billion project is set to host five parallel runways, will cover an area of 56 square kilometres and should be complete within six to eight years.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “With limited options for further growth at Dubai International, we are taking that next step to securing our future by building a brand new airport that will not only create the capacity we will need in the coming decades but also provide state of the art facilities that revolutionise the airport experience on an unprecedented scale.”
The emirate’s main airport – Dubai International (DXB), used by both Qantas and Emirates – is expected to top 100 million passengers each year by the end of 2020.
From the mid-2020s, Dubai Airports expects Emirates to relocate its intercontinental flights from Dubai International to the monstrous Al Maktoum International Airport.
As DWC is a separate airport rather than an additional terminal at Dubai International, passengers flying into one airport but onward from the other need to clear immigration, collect their bags and make their way to the second airport in time for their flight.
Griffiths expects that Dubai’s aviation sector will support more than 322,000 jobs and contribute 28% of the emirate’s GDP by 2020.
More on Dubai and the Airbus A380 superjumbo:
- Can Dubai beat London to become the world's most visited city?
- The economic worth of Airbus A380 flights to Sydney Airport
- Inside Emirates' First Class Lounge, Dubai Terminal 3
- SkyTeam to open ‘new concept’ Dubai lounge in October
- Photo gallery: Dubai's new A380 terminal for Emirates, Qantas
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1242
That rendering looks like a computer motherboard.
Etihad
23 Jan 2013
Total posts 175
My concern, looking at that image, is how far passengers will have to walk to get across the airport! I hope buggies, fast travellaters, and monorails will be built to ferry people about.
21 Sep 2012
Total posts 49
Good point. DXB is already massive and a fair hike from one gate to another.
Cathay Pacific - Asia Miles
25 Apr 2013
Total posts 542
They probably need a high speed railway and a highway with taxis to get from one side to the other. Maybe they need to add flights from the side with the leftmost runway to the side with the rightmost one.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 May 2012
Total posts 30
Al Maktoum is horrendous--I flew through there a couple of months back. It's in the absolute middle of nowhere and took an eternity to reach there by taxi. Hopefully their plans include a fast train link to Downtown Dubai and to Abu Dhabi in the other direction.
12 Jun 2013
Total posts 732
I have a feeling that by the mid 2020s Dubai will either be an economic basket case, a sharia law province of ISIS in which none of us infidels would ever dare set foot, or some combination of the two.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1560
May be by mid 2020 may be earlier may be later. Once oil run out.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1560
Does not matter what they do I still prefer Lion City.
09 Sep 2014
Total posts 1
what i have heard is that passengers walking distance is shorten to some 400m
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
14 Jan 2014
Total posts 340
And the UK are still stuck umming and ahhhing about expanding Heathrow.
09 Sep 2014
Total posts 54
Ummmmmmmmmmm..... Not quite sure about this....
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