Gulf Construction Online - Work set to start on new $2.5bn airport

Qatar Review

The plan for the New Doha International Airport until completion of the project in 2015.

Work set to start on new $2.5bn airport

01 March 2004

Ground is due to be broken this month for the new Doha International Airport (NDIA), a three-phase project that will eventually be able to handle 50 million passengers a year, and be the first new airport in the world to be designed to accommodate the ‘superjumbo’ Airbus A380-800.

The much-awaited project is set to move ahead this year, following the recent award of the engineering, project and construction management (EPCM) contract to US giant engineering and project management company Bechtel.
The new airport is to be built on reclaimed land to the east of the existing airport (and to the southeast of the main city). Eventually the land occupied by the present airport will be released for urban expansion. Land reclamation is to start imminently.
The landmark development will cost QR9.125 billion ($2.5 billion) for phase one alone.
Bechtel’s EPCM contract will include the design, project management and construction management of the new facilities covering a site of approximately 2,200 hectares.
“The New Doha International Airport will be designed to be one of the best airports in the world,” says Abdul Aziz Mohamed Al Noami, chairman of the board and managing director of Qatar Civil Aviation Authority. “The new airport will set the benchmark for all future airports. It will be an international signature for the vision of Qatar.”
The new greenfield airport will be situated approximately four km east of the existing airport. It will feature two runways constructed mostly on reclaimed land, an opening date capacity to handle 12 million passengers a year, with a 24-gate passenger terminal complex, including 25,000 sq m devoted to retail space.
A new Amiri Terminal with additional hardstands, cargo terminal buildings, aircraft hangars and associated airline and airport ancillary are other features of the development. The complex will also include three luxury hotels for the convenience of visitors, as well as transfer passengers.
“The airport will also be pivotal to the continued significant growth of Qatar Airways as a global airline. The new airport will allow us to offer our passengers fast and efficient connections as we build a route network of at least 60 destinations by the end of 2005,” says Akbar Al Baker, chief executive officer of Doha International Airport and Qatar Airways.
Set for final completion by 2015, construction of the new state-of-the-art airport will be implemented in three phases. Phase one, due to commence this year, will include reclaiming nearly half of the site from the Gulf with 50 million cu m of fill, a 140,000 sq m three-storey terminal with 24 contact gates and three major road interchanges to access the new airport.
The UK’s Halcrow has been appointed subconsultant for the platform reclamation works on the first phase. The dredging and reclamation contract – the first to be tendered on the development – is expected to go for bid in the third quarter of this year.
Detailed design work will commence this year and continue throughout 2005 as the site is reclaimed and construction of the new major facilities will begin in 2005.
As traffic and demand grows, the mid-term phase will see the addition of a further 16 contact gates and an extension of the terminal building to 219,000 sq m and a suspended monorail to transport passengers through the terminal.
The final phase of development will include the addition of another 40 contact gates, bringing the final total to 80, together with a further extension to the terminal building to 416,000 sq m, capable of handling 50 million passengers per year.
NDIA is expected to be the world’s first airport to be designed and built from the ground-up, specifically for the Airbus A380-800 – the world’s largest passenger aircraft. On completion of phase one in late 2008, the airport will be able to accommodate two A380-800s at any one time, and this figure will rise to six by the time the project is fully developed.
Rudy Vercelli, Bechtel’s director of global strategic development, says: “We look forward to bringing over 50 years of experience in aviation infrastructure and to deliver a premiere world-class facility and a subject of pride to the people of Qatar.”

Phases
Phase One, which is due for completion by 2008, will include:
• Reclaiming nearly 50 per cent of the site from the sea with approximately 50 million cu m of fill;
• One 4,850-m runway capable of taking a fully laden A380-800;
• Another 4,250-m runway;
• A 140,000 sq m three-storey terminal with 24 contact gates, two of which will cater to the A380-800. The terminal will have a capacity of 12 million passengers per year;
• At least seven remote gates;
• An airport hotel adjacent to the terminal, and one 100-room hotel within the terminal for transit passengers;
• More than 25,000 sq m of retail facilities and comfortable lounges;
• Multi-storey short-term and long-term parking;
• An Amiri (Royal) terminal complex for VIP flights;
• An aircraft maintenance centre with hangars that can accommodate two A380-800s and three A-340s at any one time;
• A cargo facility with a capacity of 750,000 tonnes per year. It will have eight hardstand aircraft parking bays;
• General aviation terminal and hangar;
• A courier and mail facility;
• A free trade zone and business park;
• A new Qatar Airways’ headquarters building;
• New Qatar Airways’ training facilities that will include flight simulators;
• Three road interchanges to access the new airport from Ras Aboud Road.
The mid-term phase of the new airport development will include:
• The addition of a further 16 contact gates and five remote gates. Of the total 40 contact gates, four will cater to A380-800s;
• Extension of terminal building to 219,000 sq m, to handle 24 million passengers per year.
• A suspended monorail that will transport passengers through the terminal;
• An additional 100-room hotel for transit passengers.
The final phase of the new airport development will include:
• The addition of another 40 contact gates, so that the terminal will have a total of 80 contact gates – six of them will cater to A380-800s.
•The further extension of the terminal building to 416,000 sq m, to handle 50 million passengers per annum.

Upgrade
The airport development was originally scheduled to be ready for the 2006 Asian Games which Qatar is due to host, but the government has now opted instead to upgrade the existing facility to meet the influx of passengers.
Qatar Airways has already announced a $38 million project to upgrade the terminal this year, as part of a broader $140 million programme to increase the annual capacity of the airport from 4.2 million to 7.5 million passengers.