First look: Emirates’ new Dubai hub revealed
It’s expected all flights will switch across from Dubai International Airport by 2034.
By Chris Ashton, April 28 2024
Emirates is looking to the future with the unveiling of a new base at Al Maktoum International Airport – a sprawling mega hub which will eventually cater for all the Gulf carrier’s needs with five parallel runways and 400 aircraft gates.
Better known as Dubai World Central (DWC), Al Maktoum International has been open since 2010, with the secondary gateway, some 33 kilometres south of Dubai, initially catering to cargo services before adding passenger flights to the mix three years later.
Phase two of that development will see it become the city’s sole international hub on the back of an ambitious AED 128 billion (AUD$53.3b) investment and expansion project.
An artist's impression of the expanded Al Maktoum International Airport Dubai.
Once complete, the 70 square kilometre complex will be five times the size of the current Dubai International Airport (DXB) and cater to up to 260 million passengers across five terminals.
It’s expected all DXB operations – including those of Emirates, FlyDubai and other international carriers – will relocate to the new facility within ten years.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, says “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.”
The announcement of phase two “marks the start of a huge investment of resources by our many stakeholders in designing and building a state-of-the-art airport that will provide a quick, convenient, and high quality 21st century experience for our customers.”
An artist's impression of the expanded Al Maktoum International Airport Dubai.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum revealed a first look at concepts of the new airport via X, with the Dubai ruler describing it as a project for future generations.
“As we build an entire city around the airport in Dubai South, demand for housing for a million people will follow. It will host the world's leading companies in the logistics and air transport sectors,” His Highness explains.
“We are building a new project for future generations, ensuring continuous and stable development for our children and their children in turn. Dubai will be the world's airport, its port, its urban hub, and its new global centre.”
09 Feb 2021
Total posts 15
There is a precisely 0% chance that the finished airport actually looks like those "artist impressions"
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 117
Perhaps they'll have first class showers bigger than a match box and containing a basin in them....
11 Sep 2018
Total posts 18
I can see the engineer having an absolute field day with the artist's impressions.
26 Aug 2015
Total posts 9
Let's be a little optimistic. We all have a choice.
21 Dec 2012
Total posts 44
I know they have a questionable approach to workers in manual labour, but is each island in the sky going to have a robo-lawn mower or are their going to be poor bugger hauling mowers up there and that clipping smell in the air?
so much space, but it all seems less than useless - you're neither shopping nor able to sit down anywhere on those wide expanses of white marble and walled in decorative gardens.. Maybe the artists need more than an impression of what a airport is and needs
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on First look: Emirates’ new Dubai hub revealed