Qatar’s new Hamad International airport remains on target to partially open on 1 April, according to Qatar Airways.

Concourse B is due to open on the first day of April, closely followed by the phased opening of the airport’s cargo facilities from 8 April.

A total of 10 airlines will move their operations to the new airport on 1 April. These are Air Arabia, Air India Express, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, FlyDubai, Iran Air, Nepal Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, RAK Airways, Syrian Air and Yemen Airways.

The national carrier, Qatar Airways Group, will manage and operate Hamad International Airport, but it will not move its operations from the existing Doha International airport until the end of this year. A further 19 airlines will move to the new airport by the end of 2013.

The new airport has run into many delays since the project began in 2004 and missed its last deadline to open in December last year. This delay is blamed on the ongoing legal battle between Qatar Airways and the German/UAE joint venture construction firm Lindner Depa Interiors (LDI).

Once the first phase of the new airport is fully operational, it will have capacity for 28 million passengers a year, an increase on the existing airport’s capacity of 4.2 million.

In the long term, the airport will be able to handle 50 million passengers from 2015.