Non-Subscriber Extract
DAC executives reaffirm major investment plans
By Ben Vogel and Chantel Watkins
08 July 2009
Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports Company (DAC), confirmed on 16 June continued investment in Dubai International Airport and the new Al Maktoum International Airport.
A total of USD17.2 billion has been allocated for expansion, of which USD7.2 billion will go towards expansion of Dubai International (including construction of Concourse 3, due for completion by June 2011). This will increase total airport capacity to 75 million passengers per annum, Sheikh Ahmed said during the Paris Air Show.
A further USD10 billion has been invested in the construction of Dubai World Central Al Maktoum International. Once complete this will be the largest airport in the world with capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo per annum. The first phase is due to open in June 2010.
"The design has been modified," commented Paul Griffiths, DAC chief executive officer. "When we started our basic modelling, we found that the original design for six runways, spaced fairly together, actually didn't yield as much capacity as four wide-spaced runways. So we've gone for five runways - four operational and one in reserve."