United Arab Emirates: Dubai to build the largest airport in the world

Dubai announced on Sunday the construction of a new passenger terminal at Al-Maktoum Airport, expected to become the “largest airport in the world”. “We have approved the plans for the new passenger terminal at Al-Maktoum International Airport, and the start of construction of the building worth 128 billion dirhams,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates on

The amount of the planned investment corresponds to approximately 31.5 billion euros.

When fully operational, this airport will be “the largest in the world”, with a capacity of 260 million passengers per year, he said, adding that this new airport will be five times larger than Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. According to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation and CEO of Emirates airline, the first phase of the project will be completed within ten years and will already “welcome 150 million passengers per year “.

Located on the outskirts of Dubai, Al-Maktoum airport has since 2010 welcomed a small part of the air traffic of the rich Gulf emirate. It is called upon to take over from Dubai International Airport, whose maximum capacity is 120 million passengers, and whose location, in the center of the city-state, prevents expansion. This announcement comes a few days after torrential rains which had hit Dubai and temporarily paralyzed the airport.

According to an annual ranking published by SkyTrax based on passenger reviews, the current Dubai airport is in 7th position in the world, while it was only 17th in last year’s rating, and 14th in 2022. , after having evolved between 19th and 39th place in the previous ten years.

The future expansion of Al-Maktoum airport could allow Dubai to compete with Doha, Qatar, named the best airport in the world in 2024, again according to the SkyTrax ranking, a distinction already won in 2022 and 2021.