AL MAKTOUM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DUBAI

The new Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai is set to be the world’s largest. Boasting 5 parallel runways and gates for 400 aircraft, Al Maktoum will be five times the size of Dubai International Airport. Costing more than $53AUD billion to build, it will cater to 260 travellers annually with all operations at DXB to be moved across to Al Maktoum in stages. 

Emirate’s ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed said it would be “the world’s airport, its port, its urban hub, and its new global centre” in a statement. In the plans are a city for one million people which will be constructed around the 70 square kilometre airport. 

Managing the transition of airlines operating at DXB, including home carriers Emirates and Flydubai, to Al Maktoum Airport will be a “massive undertaking” and will likely unfold in phases, according to Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths. The idea behind the Dubai’s new passenger terminal is to “provide enough airfield capacity to cope with the future shape and size of the aviation industry as it will be in 10 years’ time”, Mr Griffiths said.