Dubai Airports has awarded the Middle East subsidiary of the UK’s Serco a six-year facilities management contract for Terminals 1 and 2 and other cargo and ancillary facilities at Dubai International airport.

Chris Garton, executive vice-president for operations at Dubai Airports, says they expect the deal to help realise “even higher levels of standards and customer experience at the airport”.

Dubai Airports, which operates both Dubai International and Al-Maktoum International, has said it will turn to product innovation and operational improvements to accommodate rising passenger traffic.

Dubai International processed 78 million passengers in 2015 and Dubai Airports forecasts this volume to reach 85 million passengers a year in 2016, and 118.5 million a year in 2023.

The airport’s current capacity stands at 90 million passengers following the opening of Concourse D at Terminal 1 earlier this year, with no room left for additional infrastructure to be built to accommodate rapid growth.

In October, Dubai International implemented a new procedure called approach peak offload (APO), which allows concurrent use of the two runways to reduce arrival delays at the airport during peak hours.

Serco currently maintains facilities management contracts across multiple sectors in the Middle East, including in education, energy, healthcare and public sectors. It operates the Dubai Metro, the tramway and the monorail at the Palm Jumeirah.

It is also among six companies that are competing for the contract to operate the Doha Metro and the Lusail tramway.