Dubai’s Ambitious Vision: World’s Busiest Airport to be Surpassed by an Even Grandeur One

Dubai is moving forward with plans to construct an even larger airport to replace the world’s busiest airport, as passenger traffic rebounds and exceeds pre-pandemic levels. According to Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths, designs are being developed for Al Maktoum International Airport, which will be situated on the outskirts of the city and is expected to replace Dubai International Airport by the 2030s. Griffiths made this announcement at the Dubai Airshow, where airlines have made significant investments in new aircraft. Last year, Saudi Arabia also revealed plans for a major air hub in Riyadh.

Griffiths stated, “Once we’ve reached about 120 million passengers a year, which is the absolute maximum capacity we believe Dubai International Airport can handle with optimization, we will require a new airport.” He added, “This transition is likely to occur during the 2030s, and we will be working on the airport designs in the coming months. The industry’s confidence remains high, and we are pleased with the trajectory.”

These statements were made alongside new projections indicating that Dubai International Airport is expected to serve 86.9 million passengers this year, surpassing the traffic of 2019 and demonstrating a strong recovery from the impact of the pandemic. Interestingly, the recent Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza had little effect on passenger numbers, with Griffiths noting that there was “very, very little impact of traffic to the north,” and in some regions, it even became stronger than before. He attributed this rebound to the pent-up demand for travel after lockdowns limited people’s ability to travel for an extended period.

During the pandemic, Dubai airport temporarily suspended commercial flights from March to July 2020 but was among the first travel hubs to reopen. However, it only welcomed 25.9 million passengers in 2020 compared to 86 million in 2019. Griffiths emphasized that the new airport, Al Maktoum International, would not be designed with traditional terminals but would adopt a modular approach, allowing for future expansion. He described it as the “airport of the future” and estimated that the project would extend well into the 2050s.

Griffiths further explained, “We are not planning an airport that has terminals. We’re going to completely change the business model for airports, make them actually far more intimate, and get rid of all the legacy processes that we’ve had to subject our customers to for far too long.”

No specific cost or capacity has been determined for the new airport yet. The article concludes by noting that the story has been published from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by NDTV staff, except for the headline.