The launch of the passenger terminal at the new Al-Maktoum International airport in Jebel Ali has been delayed to at least the final quarter of 2011.

“The originally scheduled opening date for the passenger terminal building at Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International has been delayed from March 2011 until at least the fourth quarter of 2011,” says a  spokesman for Dubai Airports. “It remains under review.”

The reason for the delay is unclear.        

The consortium building the passenger terminal is South Korea’s Kumho Engineering & Construction and the local Ascon.

The focus for the next decade will continue to be Dubai International airport to accommodate the growth. That includes the construction of Concourse 3 and other facility enhancements designed to boost capacity from the current 60 million passengers a year to 90 million by 2018.

Cargo operations at the airport began on 1 July 2010 (MEED 1:7:10).

Phase one of the airport comprises one runway that is able to accommodate the Airbus A380 aircraft, a control tower and one cargo terminal that has an annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes.

Phase one also includes a passenger terminal that will be able to handle five million passengers a year. However, passenger operations will begin at the end of March 2011 once the winter schedule is complete.

Al-Maktoum International will be the largest airport in the world once it is fully complete in 2030 with five runways, four terminal buildings and will be able to handle 160 million passengers each year and 12 million tonnes of cargo.

The airport itself forms the central point of the $33bn Dubai World Central.