Al Maktoum International Airport , also known as Dubai World Central, is an international airport in Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that opened on 27 June 2010. Located southwest of the city of Dubai, it is the main part of Dubai South, a planned residential, commercial and logistics complex.
When fully completed (not before 2035), the airport will contain transport modes, logistics, and value-added services, including manufacturing and assembly, in a single free economic zone. It will cover an area of . The airport has a projected annual capacity of of freight and between 160 million and 260 million passengers. , only a handful of airlines operated passenger services out of Al Maktoum International Airport with a focus on freight activity.
Emirates plans to use the airport as its only Airline hub once the first expansion is complete. Dubai International Airport will be shut down once Al Maktoum International Airport expansion is completed.
History
Construction
During the first phase of the project, the airport was planned to handle around of cargo per year, with the possibility of increasing to . The passenger terminal at this phase was designed to have a capacity of 5 million passengers per year. It was planned to be the largest airport in the world in terms of freight handled, moving up to per year in 2013.
The project was originally expected to be fully operational by 2017, although the 2008 financial crisis subsequently postponed the completion of the complex to 2027. Previous working names for the airport complex have included "Jebel Ali International Airport", "Jebel Ali Airport City", and "Dubai World Central International Airport". The airport was eventually named the Al Maktoum International Airport after the House of Maktoum which rules the Emirate of Dubai. The total cost of the airport has been estimated by the Dubai government to be $82 billion.
Operations
On 24 February 2011, the airport was certified to handle passenger aircraft with up to 60 passengers. The first passenger aircraft touched down on 28 February 2011, an Airbus A319CJ. The airport officially opened for passenger flights on 26 October 2013 with Flynas and Wizz Air as the two carriers to operate from the airport.
In the first quarter of 2014, 102,000 passengers went through the airport. At the time of its opening, three cargo service airlines served Al Maktoum International Airport, including RUS Aviation, Skyline Air and Aerospace Consortium. Fifteen additional airlines then signed a contract to operate flights to the airport.
Passenger numbers in the first half of 2016 totaled 410,278, up from 209,989 in the first half of 2015. Low usage of the facility led to it being described as a white elephant.
Expansion plans
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
See also
- Dubai International Airport
- Sharjah International Airport
External links
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