Dubai World Central Gets Regulator Approval For Passenger Take Off

Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central can start handling passengers from late October after the UAE regulator, the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), certified the new airport.

In a letter issued by GCAA’s Air Navigation and Aerodrome department yesterday, the regulator accepted the implementation process for full passenger operations.

“This is a welcomed and critical step forward in the process of preparing DWC for full passenger operations,” said Jamal Zaal, vice president of Airside Operations at Dubai Airports. “We will continue to press ahead with trials that test every system, process and piece of equipment in the new terminal, be it signage, gates or boarding procedures to make sure the new facility is ready to accept passengers on October 27.”

Advanced passenger trials will be held on October 12, when the full passenger journey through the new terminal will be tested by 1,000 members of the travelling public to identify any areas for improvement – mirroring the process that took place with the pre-opening of Concourse A at Dubai International in January. Dubai Airports said volunteers were “oversubscribed” within the first 48 hours.

The new passenger terminal building is designed to accommodate five to seven million passengers per year. When completed, DWC will be the largest airport in the world with five runways and capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.

Low-cost carrier Wizz Air and Saudi Arabia’s Nas Air are among the launch airlines for the new airport.