Al Maktoum International Airport, also known as Dubai World Central, is an international airport in Jebel Ali, 37 kilometers southwest of Dubai, United Arab Emirates that opened on 27 June 2010.
The aim of the US$32.6 billion expansion project is to turn the airport into the world’s largest airport by size and passenger capacity by 2050. On completion of the project, it is expected that DWC will be capable of handling in excess of 220 million passengers and approximately 16 million tonnes of cargo per year.
The expansion will be built in two phases over six to eight years. The first phase is scheduled to complete in 2030. It involves two more parallel Code F, CAT III B, 4.5 Km runways each with a capability of simultaneous operation.
Additionally, 2 Satellite concourses each with a 385,000 sq m footprint and each capable of handling 65 million passengers a year, 200 wide-body aircraft contact stands, comprising 100 stands each for Code E and Code F aircraft.
Reported in September 2014
Dubai endorses US$32 billion Al Maktoum International airport expansion into World’s largest airport
A plan to expand Al Maktoum International airport at Dubai World Central into the world’s largest airport has been endorsed by Dubai’s top government organ. The planned expansion of the facility will see the Al Maktoum airport handle 200 million passengers per year.
The first phase of expansion works at the Al Maktoum International airport will aim at establishing a facility that will handle 120 million passengers per year. The facility is also supposed to accommodate 100 mammoth Airbus A380 double-decker jets at any time once completed. This will involve building enough runway and terminal space. The first phase will also involve adding two new runways and two large concourses that will each house several aircraft gates.
Handling millions of passengers per year, the facility will surpass the 94.4 million people capacity handled last year by the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
To indicate the nature of the expansive work at the Al Maktoum International airport, the first phase of expansion is to take six to eight years. That included Paul Griffiths, chief executive of state-backed airport operator Dubai Airports indicating that six to eight years was the aggressive timeline. He added, “’It’s a very aggressive time scale…”
Later construction works for the to-be world’s largest airport will see through the establishment of five parallel runways, each spaced far apart from the other such that they all can be used at the same time and so they can accommodate hundreds of wide-body planes.
Construction or expansion works at the Al Maktoum International airport will help increase airport capacity/facilities in Dubai. This will help Dubai keep pace with an increasing number of traffic in the Emirate. Dubai boasts of the world’s seven largest busiest airports – the Dubai International airport, the latter having handled 66.4 million passengers last year alone. The airport will also open its new concourse next year.
Emirates region is the world’s largest user of A380 and Boeing 777 long-haul jets.
