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Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) has selected a contractor to deliver the automated people-mover system as part of the first phase of the $35bn expansion of Al-Maktoum International airport.

A team of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro is the selected contractor.

The automated people-mover system will serve as a critical facility for operations at Al-Maktoum International airport. The system will run under the apron of the entire airfield and the airport’s terminals. It will consist of multiple tracks, taking passengers from the terminals to the concourses.

Four underground stations will be built as part of the first phase. The overall plan includes 14 stations across the airport.

The firms submitted the bids for the project in July last year, as MEED exclusively reported.

The contract is the latest in a series of awards signed by DAEP recently. DAEP has awarded contracts valued at about AED13bn, with construction works currently under way on several airport packages.

These include enabling works, the second runway, and the initial structural foundations for passenger terminals and gates.

Upcoming awards

In June, DAEP said that it will award contracts worth over AED55bn ($15bn) by the end of this year for construction works at Al-Maktoum International airport.

The projects slated for contract awards include the substructure works for the Western Passenger Terminal, the fourth aircraft concourse building and the baggage handling system, in addition to the superstructure works for the Western Passenger Terminal and the first, second and third aircraft concourses.

The packages also encompass long-span structural frameworks for buildings covering about 1.5 million square metres (sq m), infrastructure works for the southern airfield area, and power generation and district cooling plants supporting the construction programme.

The award of the facade and roofing packages is also planned for this year.

Construction progress

In May last year, MEED exclusively reported that DAEP had awarded a AED1bn ($272m) deal to UAE firm Binladin Contracting Group to construct the second runway at the airport.

The enabling works on the terminal were awarded to Abu Dhabi-based Tristar E&C.

Construction on the project’s first phase is expected to be completed by 2032.

Construction on substructure works began in November last year, when DAEP formally selected a contractor to deliver the package.

The government approved the updated designs and timelines for its largest construction project in April 2024.

In a statement, the authorities said the plan is for all operations from Dubai International airport to be transferred to Al-Maktoum International within 10 years.

According to an official description on DAEP’s website, the expanded airport’s West Terminal will be a seven-level, 800,000 sq m facility with an annual capacity of 45 million passengers.

It will be the second of three terminals at Al-Maktoum International airport.

In September 2024, MEED exclusively reported that a team comprising Austria’s Coop Himmelb(l)au and Lebanon’s Dar Al-Handasah had been confirmed as the lead masterplanning and design consultants on the expansion of Al-Maktoum airport.

The airport’s construction is planned to be undertaken in three phases. The airport will cover an area of 70 square kilometres south of Dubai and will have five parallel runways and 430 aircraft gates.

It will be five times the size of the existing Dubai International airport and will 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.