Central to all the Gulf airlines' expansion strategies is the development of their hub airports. In the case of Emirates and Qatar Airways, this ultimately means all-new airports, while for Etihad Airways the existing international airport at Abu Dhabi is undergoing major expansion.
If everything goes as planned, the first elements of a huge new aerospace complex with an airport at its core will open in Dubai next year. Known as Dubai World Central International Airport, the development is being built on the Jebel Ali site 40km (25 miles) south of the city, which is set to become the world's largest passenger and cargo hub.
Covering 140km2 (54 miles2) and costing more than $33 billion, the airport and its surrounding complex will be 10 times the size of the city's existing airport and its accompanying cargo facility. By 2030, it will be able to handle 120 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo per year.
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The new airport at Jebel Ali will have six parallel runways |
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Abu Dhabi is gearing up for Etihad's fleet expansion, which includes the A380 |
Containing a freight free-zone, linked by customs-bonded road to Jebel Ali port, the aim is to turn the new airport into a cargo hub for the wider region. The new complex, which will eventually be home to Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, will also comprise a financial centre and a 19-hall convention centre - to which the Dubai air show will relocate from 2009.
The new airport will have six 4,500m (14,750ft) long parallel runways and three terminal buildings. Completion of the first runway and the cargo terminal is expected by the fourth quarter of next year, with the airport due to open almost immediately. What will happen in the long term to Dubai's existing airport - state-of the-art when it was opened in the 1980s and still being expanded - and when and whether Emirates will move its operating base to Jebel Ali is still to be decided.
While Qatar's existing Doha international airport has undergone ad hoc expansion to cater for its main occupant's rapid growth, the country's new gateway - built on adjacent reclaimed land - is due to open in mid-2009 and almost immediately offer an annual capacity of 24 million passengers.
Today's Doha airport will handle over 8 million passengers this year - far more than it was originally designed for - and must still sustain two years of Qatar Airways growth before the new development takes over in 2009.
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Doha's new airport will open in 2009 |
The $5.5 billion investment will create an all-new airport covering 2,200ha (900 acres) that comprises airport buildings, a royal flight terminal, a hotel, a free trade zone and Qatar Airways' headquarters and training facilities. When it opens in two years' time the airport will have a terminal with 40 contact gates including four that are A380-capable, and two parallel runways (the longer offering a take-off length of 4,850m).
When fully operational after the second phase is completed in 2015, it will be able handle 50 million passengers a year, with the number of contact gates doubled to 80. The project is being handled by Bechtel - which created the new Hong Kong airport - and builds on some of design features introduced with that airport.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi's international airport, which with its single runway and passenger terminal was designed to handle 3.5 million passengers annually, is undergoing a 30 billion dirham ($8.16 million) expansion to transform it into a major hub. In the last year alone, Abu Dhabi's passenger numbers have almost doubled to 6.8 million and it must now gear up to cater for further growth given the ambitions of local carrier Etihad Airways.
The expansion will see the completion of a parallel 4,100m runway and taxiway by November next year, with a new midfield terminal complex that will also comprise new maintenance and cargo facilities to be ready by 2010. In the meantime, an interim terminal is being constructed for Etihad's exclusive use. The first phase of the expansion will boost the airport's annual passenger capacity to 20 million in 2010, with further expansion planned to grow capacity to over 40 million.
While there are not such grand plans for Gulf Air's two hubs - Bahrain and Muscat in Oman - both countries' international airports are to have major improvements. A three-phase expansion at Bahrain's Manama airport will increase the capacity from today's 10 million passengers to 15 million initially and ultimately to 45 million.
In Muscat, a new passenger terminal at the capital's Seeb International Airport along with an additional runway, will quadruple annual capacity to 12 million passengers.
Source: Flight International
