Dubai authorities “reviewed the strategic plan of the Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects and approved designs for the new passenger terminal” at Al Maktoum International Airport (a/k/a Dubai World Central). The designs call for capacity to handle 260 million passengers annually, with five parallel runways, 400 gates, and the largest passenger terminal in the world. Assuming the construction actually happens this time around.
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.
– His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai
But promises around Al Maktoum International Airport have a long history, with minimal follow-through. Renderings of the new airport look impressive, and it is a change in design from those put forth a decade ago.
It includes a more substantial main building, though the remote gate “pods” are still in play. It is massive, which helps for handling hundreds of millions of passengers, though that also comes with challenges, as Doha and Istanbul’s new airports (among others) has experienced.
Longer walks for travelers and a more remote location relative to the city are not always welcome adjustments.
But change is needed. Dubai international (DXB) airport remains one of the busiest airports in the world. It is bursting at the seams. The need for a larger facility is not in dispute.
How and when it will happen, however, has been a challenge for nearly two decades. This iteration of the plans calls for phase one to be completed within 10 years, echoing claims from similar plans over the years.
The long and winding history of not really developing Al Maktoum International Airport
Development of Al Maktoum (DWC) as the expansion facility for Dubai has been part of a master plan for 20ish years. Construction began in 2005, with the goal of developing a fulling integrated, multi-modal “aerotropolis” environment. When the new airport opened in 2010 south of town it immediately helped relieve some cargo capacity challenges. Private jets followed, and eventually some airlines began operations from the facility in 2013.
In 2011 officials estimated 80 million passengers would pass through Al Maktoum annually by 2020. By 2013 local officials were projecting Al Maktoum could be the world’s busiest within a decade. Needless to say, it never got anywhere close to that level. It barely topped 1 million under normal operational levels, with a spike in early 2019 due to runway construction at DXB.
By 2016 there were plans for DWC to be the “primary airport for Dubai and home to Emirates from 2025.” This included plans for flyDubai to move its operations south in 2017. Emirates was expected to follow in short course.
Instead, in 2017 flyDubai reduced operations at DWC, tightened its role as a feeder for Emirates, and increased operations in DXB. At the same time the expansion of DWC – to handle 26 million passengers annually – was delayed to 2018.
In 2018 the renderings had evolved, as had capacity plans. The terminal (four separate mega terminals, on the same property) planned for 200 million passengers. Around this time the (fraudulent?) promises of Hyperloop also hit their peak, with plans for high speed pods to transport passengers from Dubai (or Abu Dhabi) to Al Maktoum quickly and easily, helping to address the less convenient geography of the new terminal compared to DXB.
Which is not to say that Al Maktoum has completely failed to establish a market for itself. In the past two years it has seen significant growth of flights to Russia, with access for those travelers to Europe or North America effectively cut off.
Perhaps the buildings will really go up this time. Or we’ll see the announcement of a new design plan in a couple years, resetting the 10-year construction timeline anew. This time around at least Emirates seems to acknowledge that it’ll have to move to a new facility eventually.
But unless and until the UAE government has the temerity for force airlines to move – closing DXB or converting it to a business aviation facility or some other significant change – this is all just a theoretical exercise.
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