DUBAI – The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has always sent a thunderbolt across the media with its mega infrastructure plans and this time, an airport is making headlines.
The UAE authorities have unveiled plans to replace the existing Dubai International Airport with a mega facility, and according to Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports’ chief executive, the current DXB will be superseded by a new airport expected to materialize in the 2030s, with further expansion projected through the middle of the century.
Griffiths emphasized the necessity for an even larger airport when Dubai International Airport nears its 120-million passenger capacity, highlighting that a new airport becomes imperative once this maximum capacity is reached, AFP reported.
Anticipating a passenger influx of 86 million in 2023, Dubai Airports is set to surpass pre-pandemic levels and Griffiths highlighted that forthcoming designs for the new airport will radically differ from traditional terminal-based layouts, aiming for an industry-redefining futuristic concept.
Though no specific timelines or completion schedule or financial liability has been announced as of now, the visionary airport project is set to transform the conventional airport business model.
“That is going to have to happen at some stage during the 2030s. We’re going to be working on those designs over the next few months,” Griffiths said and claimed that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has not affected the passenger count at the airport.
Branding the airport as “airport of the future”, he said that Al Maktoum International has to be even bigger and even better (than Dubai International).
“This will be a project that extends way into the 2050s, because we take the long-term view here,” he added.
“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,” Griffiths said while revealing his plans.
