Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, declared in 2034 that the airline would relocate immediately to Al Maktoum International Airport.
“We will relocate to Al Maktoum Airport by 2034 as part of the D33 programme. The relocation (from Dubai International to Al Maktoum Airport) will be in one go. You will wake up one day and the terminal is open and tested and you will see flights from Al Maktoum Airport,” Sheikh Ahmed said during a media briefing on Tuesday.
In this transitional period, he clarified, there will be “no split of operations,” but they will operate “from one airport.”
He asserts that the aviation industry and regional airlines are growing and that there is an urgent need for a new airport.
“I am more confident than a few years back (about the new airport’s success). I’ve seen it all and experienced it. Dubai always exceeded the targets in every sector. We are confident that without this airport, Dubai will be going backwards (as Emirates and Dubai are growing). All the aircraft that will come into the fleet, we need gates and parking for them and with the existing facility, it will be a challenge,” he said.
The Dubai government announced last week that all operations currently carried out at Dubai International (DXB) will be transferred to Al Maktoum International (DWC) over the course of the following few years. With a new Dh128 billion passenger terminal at Dubai World Central, DXB’s operations will be “fully absorbed” in ten years, bringing the total number of passengers to 260 million annually.
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