Dubai International Airport to increase capacity to 90 million pax p/a

Dubai Airports CEO, Paul Griffiths, announced plans to increase capacity at Dubai International Airport to 90 million passengers p/a, up from previous 75 million p/a by 2012 (Maktoob Business, 26-Apr-2010). The airport has capacity to handle 60 million passengers p/a. Mr Griffiths added plans are "likely" to involve an expansion of Terminal 2 rather than the construction of a new terminal. Mr Griffiths stated it will be some time before airlines shift to the new Al Maktoum International Airport, due to initial capacity constraints. The new airport is scheduled to open in Jun-2010 with capacity to handle up to 7 million passengers p/a.

Dubai Airports: "We are working on a whole raft of initiatives in order to get capacity from currently planned 75 million to 90 million by the end of the decade and that will fully meet all the requirements of the passenger airlines. Until we have got enough capacity at the new airport it would be difficult to start relocating some of the major airline groups like Emirates. The airlines and us are still formulating our plans. It will depend on the rates of development of the infrastructure. It is going to be a gradual introduction into service rather than a massive bang on day one," Paul Griffiths, CEO. Source: Maktoob Business, 26-Apr-2010.