After years on the rocks, the project could be revived.
After years of inaction and delays, the expansion of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) appears to be resuming. The $33 billion mega-project appears to be back on track, but how long will it take to complete?
Is the DWC expansion resumed?
According to a MEED report, officials are in talks about restarting the multibillion-dollar building project. In addition, partners and stakeholders have been formally alerted to prepare for the project’s resumption.
The project began to slow pace in 2019 when Dubai’s economy faltered amid a drop in oil prices, before the COVID outbreak halted all construction. The expansion will include four additional Code F, CAT III B, 4.5 km runways, two terminals and four satellite concourses, an 8sq km cargo facility, and a 40 km subterranean road network – the first phase will include the construction of two of these runways, a West terminal, two satellite concourses, an intra-terminal train network, and a Dubai Metro connection.
DXB capacity restrictions
The increased traffic at Dubai’s principal airport, Dubai International Airport, is one of the causes propelling the project’s resume. DXB anticipates 78 million passengers in 2023, just shy of the 86 million handled in 2019, and a full restoration to pre-pandemic capacity in 2024.
One challenge DXB may confront is that, with only two runways, it may struggle to meet increased aircraft movement demands as passenger footfall develops. This could worsen as Emirates begins flying its new Airbus A350-900 fleet, which has a smaller passenger capacity than the Airbus A380, resulting in an even higher number of aircraft movements. Meanwhile, neighboring Saudi Arabia’s intentions to build a new mega-airport in Riyadh by 2030 may speed Dubai’s efforts to get DWC back on track. The projected King Salman International Airport would feature six runways and could handle up to 120 million people by the end of this decade.
Timetable has been pushed back yet again.
When Al Maktoum International Airport was first announced, its completion date was set for 2017, but the project has been continually delayed. According to the most recent estimations in October 2018, the airport’s first phase will be completed by 2030, bringing its capacity to 130 million passengers per year, with the possibility to increase to 260 million passengers per year by 2050. The first phase will very certainly not be finished by the end of this decade, with a mid-2030 completion date more likely. DWC still handles a fraction of the passengers at adjacent DXB, which is only 40 kilometers away.
