With Dubai Worldwide Airport (DXB) nearing capability, the UAE is already drawing up plans for its successor, which can be constructed on the outskirts of town and anticipated to open within the 2030s.
Dubai’s subsequent main hub technically already exists: Al Maktoum Worldwide Airport (DWC), situated 37 kilometers southwest of town and primarily supposed for cargo planes. A handful of passenger airways, primarily Russian, are at present touchdown there, and Aeroflot will launch companies in December.
Photograph: Courtesy of Dubai World Central
At present Al Maktoum has a capability of only one.6 million passengers per yr. However that might rise to 250 million by 2050, if there are plans to massively broaden the hub and funnel DXB’s crowds there.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, which owns each airports, mentioned designs are already being drawn up for the brand new mega airport, which can change into mandatory in just a few years.
“Within the coming years we’ll obtain 100 million passengers at DXB, and as well as we’ll want a brand new airport as a result of we in all probability will not have the ability to get a lot past 115 million or 120 million,” he mentioned throughout his speech at DXB. the Dubai Airshow final week.
Altering the airport enterprise mannequin
The revamped Al Maktoum Worldwide Airport is not going to face an identical cap as it will likely be modular in design, making enlargement simpler, Griffiths mentioned, calling it the “airport of the longer term.”
“We aren’t planning an airport with terminals. “We’re going to utterly change the enterprise mannequin for airports, really making them far more intimate and eliminating all of the outdated processes that we’ve needed to topic our clients to for much too lengthy,” he mentioned.
He wouldn’t focus on when the brand new airport may open, apart from to say it will be “within the 2030s” or how a lot it will value. Nonetheless, he mentioned it will likely be a “venture that extends properly into the 2050s as a result of we’re taking a long-term view right here.”
Within the meantime, Dubai Airports will deploy progressive know-how to extend capability at DXB.
Photograph: Courtesy of Dubai Worldwide Airport
Dubai Worldwide Airport, dwelling to Emirates, is on monitor to deal with 86.9 million passengers this yr, up 40% from 2022 and surpassing pre-pandemic ranges for the primary time. That is near the airport’s present capability of 100 million, though new know-how and extra environment friendly use of area may push capability to 120 million.
“Our short-term technique is to broaden DXB as a result of that’s the place the demand is, and we’ve quite a lot of plans in place to have the ability to spend money on our current amenities to make them extra environment friendly and efficient,” Griffiths mentioned.
However these enhancements at DXB will solely cowl us “for the following 10 to fifteen years.”
“Then we’ve to offer an actual impetus to develop the massive one.”
