Dubai to award Al Maktoum airport expansion tender in May

The first tender to expand Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport to 120 million passengers per year will be awarded later this month, a senior official confirmed.
Speaking to reporters at the Airport Show in Dubai, chairman of Dubai Airports and president of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said: “I think the first tender should be on the 28th of this month. This is for the 120 million [expansion].”

He did not disclose any further details of the project.

In March, officials announced that the airport will expand from its current capacity of five million passengers per year to handle up to 26.5 million passengers per year.

Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects appointed Al Jaber LEGT Engineering and Contracting to expand the Passenger Terminal Building at the airport.

The first phase of the extension will increase the built up area of the terminal from the existing 66,107 square metres to 145,926 sqm. This is set to be completed by June 2017.

Al Maktoum International Airport will ultimately have the capacity to handle over 220 million passengers per year.

Sheikh Ahmed said at the time that the expansion was aimed at helping position Dubai as the “aviation capital of the world.”

Dubai International Airport is already the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic and welcomed 78 million visitors in 2015. Average monthly traffic stood at 6.5 million passengers last year.

Looking ahead, the emirate is hoping to attract 126 million passengers per year by 2020 and around 200 million passengers annually by 2030.