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Dubai has invited contractors to express interest in infrastructure works for its newly relaunched $35bn expansion of Al Maktoum International airport.

The project client, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects, issued the expression of interest notice a few weeks ago and the last date for submission is 20 May.

In April, Dubai approved the updated designs and timelines for its largest construction project.

Covering an area of 70 square kilometres in the south of Dubai, the airport will have five parallel runways and five terminal buildings with a total of 400 aircraft gates. It will be five times the size of the existing Dubai International airport and have the world’s largest passenger handling capacity of 260 million passengers a year. For cargo, it will have the capacity to handle 12 million tonnes a year.

The government of Dubai said that the plan is for all operations from Dubai International airport to be transferred to Al Maktoum International airport within 10 years.

The government statement added that the project will create housing demand for 1 million people around the airport.

Project history

The expansion of Al Maktoum International airport is a long-standing project. Also known as Dubai World Central (DWC), it was officially launched in 2014, with a different design to the one approved in April 2024. Back then, it involved building the biggest airport in the world by 2050, with the capacity to handle 255 million passengers a year.

An initial phase, due to be completed in 2030, involved taking the airport’s capacity to 130 million passengers a year. Altogether, the development was to cover an area of 56 square kilometres.

Progress on the project slipped as the region grappled with the impact of lower oil prices and Dubai focused on developing the Expo 2020 site. Tendering for work on the project then stalled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

Al Maktoum airport is needed because Dubai International cannot be expanded significantly. One of the key challenges is runway capacity. It only has two runways, and with built-up urban areas on either side of the airport, there is no available land on which to build new runways. 

Another driver for the project is regional competition. Dubai International is the region’s largest airport, and Emirates is the region’s largest airline. Plans in Saudi Arabia now challenge that position.

At the end of 2022, the kingdom launched the masterplan for King Salman International airport in Riyadh. The plan is to accommodate up to 120 million passengers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050. Contractors in Saudi Arabia are forming joint ventures to bid for construction work on that project.

MEED's April 2024 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> GVT & ECONOMY: Saudi Arabia seeks diversification amid regional tensions
> BANKING: Saudi lenders gear up for corporate growth
> UPSTREAM: Aramco spending drawdown to jolt oil projects
> DOWNSTREAM: Master Gas System spending stimulates Saudi downstream sector
> POWER: Riyadh to sustain power spending
> WATER: Growth inevitable for the Saudi water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi gigaprojects propel construction sector
> TRANSPORT: Saudi Arabia’s transport sector offers prospects