Al Maktoum Airport: Dubai leader plans to create 'world's largest airport' by moving operations at Dubai International Airport to new facility

Popular holiday destination Dubai is set to transform its airport under a major £28 billion project. Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed said on X, formerly Twitter, that the project will make Dubai have “the world’s airport” and will allow the city to “lead the international aviation sector for the next forty years."

Construction of a futuristic new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport will begin immediately. Mr Mohamed announced on Sunday 28 April that all operations of Dubai International Airport (DXB) - currently the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic - will be transferred to Al Maktoum "within the next 10 years".

The new 70km2 airport will feature 400 aircraft gates and five parallel runways and will be five times the size of Dubai International Airport at completion. Al Maktoum currently has just two runways, the same as DXB.

Computer-rendered designs for the new airport show expansive white spaces with high ceilings and plenty of greenery. Mr Mohammed said on X: "Al Maktoum International Airport will be the largest in the world with a final capacity of up to 260 million passengers. We are preparing for a new phase in the growth of the global aviation sector.

"We are preparing for a phase in which Dubai leads the international aviation sector for the next forty years. We are building a new project for generations, ensuring continuous and stable development for our children so that Dubai will be the world’s airport, port, urban metropolis, and new cultural centre."

New technologies never before used in the aviation sector are set to feature at Al Maktoum. The airport opened in 2010 and is about 28 miles from DXB.

It can be expanded into the empty desert around it. The pandemic and the sheikhdom's 2009 economic crisis are said to have delayed progress on the operations of DXB being shifted to Al Maktoum at Dubai World Central. The news comes after Dubai announced its best-ever tourism numbers in February. The city revealed it had hosted 17.15 million international overnight visitors in 2023, with average hotel occupancy at about 77 per cent.