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28 March 2024

Dubai airports to surpass 100m

Published
By Waheed Abbas

Dubai Airports expects to surpass its target of 100 million passengers by 2020, thanks to sustained growth in 2013 and early 2014.

Paul Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Airports, said in the newly-released annual report that “2013 was a year of mapping out and preparing what appears to be a bright and busy future for Dubai Airports. Our traffic projections show that we will have more than 100 million passengers passing through our airports by 2020.”

Dubai Airports is investing $7.8 billion (Dh28.6 billion) in the expansion of facilities and aims to achieve 100 million passengers by 2020.

The airport recorded 15.3 per cent growth in passengers to 66.5 million last year compared to 57.7 million in the previous year. Aircraft movements also showed robust growth in 2013 at 369,953, up 7.5 per cent from 344,245 in 2012.

In the first two months of 2014, the airport received 12 million passengers registering an increase of 12.8 per cent.

Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai World Central will help also help achieve the target with Dubai Airports revenue rose 17 per cent in 2013, boosted by the record passenger numbers as well as a buoyant contribution from commercial activities, the airport said in its annual book.

Griffiths said: “To meet traffic expansion expected during this decade, our SP2020 programme is progressing well. With the opening of Concourse A now behind us, we have continued to expand our facilities with Concourse D and a refurbished Terminal 1 on track to open during the first quarter of 2015 and the final phase of the expanded Terminal 2 later this year.”

Dubai Airports said expansion plan, dubbed SP2020, will create additional capacity which includes new terminal space, improvement to the airport’s runways as well as expansion to the airport’s cargo facilities.

The double-digit growth in 2013 has put Dubai International on target to overtake London’s Heathrow airport as the world’s busiest international airport by 2015, it said.

The annual report also highlighted significant progress made on Concourse D, which, when opened in the first quarter of 2015, will serve as the new home of the 100 international scheduled carriers airlines.

Dubai Airports said work began in earnest on the expansion of the Cargo Mega Terminal towards the end of 2013 and remains on track for completion by the middle of 2015.

At the same time, work on the new elevated rail link connecting Concourse D to Terminal 1 made significant progress last year and the completion of the elevated rail link is expected by the middle of 2014.

Dubai Airports said completion of the rail link will allow for the installation of rail systems by the manufacturer and supplier Bombardier and it expects the first APM, in its new Dubai Airports livery, to be delivered and lifted into position in the second quarter of 2014.

Currently Dubai Airports, together with its construction partner Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), is working on Concourse D – which will become the new home of more than 100 international airlines that fly to Dubai International when it opens in 2015 – as energy efficient and sustainable as possible.