Gulf Construction Online - $7.8bn Dubai airport expansion to take off

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Dubai International Airport ... expansion blueprint.

$7.8bn Dubai airport expansion to take off

01 August 2011

A TOTAL of Dh28.8 billion ($7.8 billion) has been committed for the further expansion of Dubai International Airport, which involves the expansion of an existing terminal and construction of a new concourse.

The airport and airspace expansion programme will boost capacity at Dubai International from 60 million to 90 million passengers per year by 2018, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

According to the plan, Dubai Airports will expand Terminal Two and build a new Concourse Four, which will be connected to Terminal One for check-in and baggage services. The project is in addition to the completion of the Concourse Three project.

Concourse Four, to be completed by 2015, will be built in the front of cargo village. This year’s Dubai Airshow will be the last one to be held at Dubai’s Airport Expo, as the show will move to Dubai World Central and its current site will be part of the expansion, said Griffiths.

The expansion responds to a 10-year traffic forecast for Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) that projects international passenger and cargo traffic will increase at an average annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively.

Griffiths.

“By 2020, 98.5 million passengers and over four million tonnes of air freight will pass through our airports. The fleets and networks of Emirates and flydubai will grow considerably to accommodate traffic and capture market share. Similarly, our infrastructure must expand to enable this growth and facilitate the trade, tourism and commerce that in turn will support the prosperity of Dubai,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports and president of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.

Airspace expansion plans focus on optimising runway capacity and implementing efficient systems and processes in order to accommodate and manage additional aircraft movements. As airspace opens up, additional aircraft movements will be accommodated on the ground with the addition of a new taxiway and a 60 per cent increase in the number of stands needed to park and service aircraft.

Beyond Concourse 3, which will boost capacity to 75 million passengers when it is completed at the end of 2012, Dubai Airports will commission the construction of additional terminal space and concourse areas comprising an extra 675,000 sq m of floor space — twice the footprint of London Heathrow Terminal 5 – with the expansion of Terminal Two and the construction of Concourse Four. Baggage systems will be upgraded and cargo capacity augmented with a 30,000 sq m expansion of the cargo terminal.

During 2018-2023, with construction completed at Dubai International, construction of Phase Two of DWC will escalate with the initial iteration allowing for 80 million passengers per year to facilitate the eventual relocation of the Emirates hub.