Al-Maktoum opening delayed; major expansion at Dubai International

Dubai Airports announced it may delay the opening of Al Maktoum International Airport, which was scheduled for Mar-2011 (Reuters/Arabian Business/The Peninsula/Bloomberg, 07-Dec-2010). CEO Paul Griffiths said in order to "get everything right … the opening date looks as if it'll be later in the year (2011)". Mr Griffiths announced plans to increase Dubai International's capacity to 90 million passengers p/a, from the current 60 million, by 2018. Mr Griffiths ruled out Emirates' relocation to Al Maktoum before 2020, as the new airport "would require major infrastructure projects". According to the CEO, the expansion of Dubai International will go ahead as it is faster to achieve in comparison with building the new airport.

Dubai Airports: "We are about to unveil an expensive master plan for this airport [Dubai International Airport] … It will give us a big increase in capacity to 90 million by 2018 … The growth here [Dubai International] is going to be very strong and it will take the pressure off us having to complete Al-Maktoum Airport in quite the timescale we were looking at before." Paul Griffiths, CEO. Source: The Peninsula, 07-Dec-2010.

Dubai Airports: "The real big story for Al Maktoum is that we want to go and develop as quickly as we can phase two, which will see the airport grow to an initial capacity of about 90 million, and then hopefully proceed fairly quickly to develop the full capacity of over a 160 million by the mid-2020s … For us, the real big aim is to be able to have an airport that is large enough to relocate the Emirates hub in one move without having to split its operations." Paul Griffiths, CEO. Source: The Peninsula, 07-Dec-2010.