October 2014 | the gulf the gulf | October 2014 24 25 feature feature AVI ATI ON AVI ATI ON Though upgrading two mega-hubs in tandem may seem an excessiv ely ambitious task, there are some symbiotic advantages to the strategy ‘We are building a brand new airport that will not only create the capacity we will need, but also provide facilities that revolutionise the airport experience on an unprecedented scale’ Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports T HINKING big has never been a problem for the rulers of Dubai. Back in 2005, when fewer than 24 million passengers used Dubai International Airport (DXB), the emirate unveiled plans for a six- runway hub at Jebel Ali, southwest of the city, that could handle up to 120 million people each year. A sprawling complex called Dubai World Central (DWC) was to be developed around the airport, creating “the world’s first purpose-built aerotropolis”. At the time, DXB did not even rank among the top ten busiest interna- tional gateways on the planet. Dubai’s vision of becoming the centrepiece of global aviation was ridiculed in some corners as a delusion fuelled by free-flowing cash and unbridled Gulf egos. For years to come, discus- sions about the project were tainted with accusations of building a “white elephant” in the desert. Today, however, with DXB on the cusp of overtaking London Heathrow Airport as the largest internation- al gateway anywhere in the world, the sceptics have fallen silent. DXB processed 66.4 million people in 2013; DWC’s newly re-named Al Maktoum International Airport is already accept- ing passenger flights; and Dubai’s rulers are once again upping the ante. Mindful that their traffic forecasts no longer seem such a distant prospect, the latest annual capacity target has risen from 160 to 200 million. And it could stretch even further, to 240 million. “Our future lies at DWC. The announcement of this Dhs120 billion ($32 billion) development of DWC is both timely and a strong endorsement of Dubai’s aviation industry,” said Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, the owner and operator of both DXB and DWC, after Dubai’s ruler Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum ratified the latest plans. “With limited options for further growth at Dubai International, we are taking that next step to securing our future by building a brand new airport that will not only create the capacity we will need in the coming decades, but also provide state-of-the-art facilities that revolutionise the airport experi- ence on an unprecedented scale.” Dubai’s success stems from geograph- ical advantage and lacklustre competi- tion in Europe. Two thirds of the world’s population lives within eight hours’ flying time of the Gulf, making it an ideal location for the largest hub-and- spoke network on the planet. Factor in the inability of European governments to develop their own airport infrastruc- DUBAI The creation of a massive new a viation hub at Dubai World Central is, the developer says, set to revolutionise the way passengers and freight move Air travel reinvented with an annual capacity of 120 million and facilities to handle 100 double- decker Airbus A380s simultaneously. Having previously erred on the side of caution when setting deadlines, Dubai Airports has now accelerat- ed the completion of this phase to “between six and eight years”. That timeframe coincides with projected passenger demand of 100 million at DXB, potentially enabling a wholesale shift of operations by Emirates Airline, Dubai’s flag carrier, to DWC around the turn of the decade. In practice, however, Emirates is likely to stay put at DXB at least until the mid-2020s. The DWC project has already encountered numerous delays - construction work slowed after the 2008 global financial crisis, when the blueprint was scaled down from six to five runways - and further obstacles are all but guaranteed, being the norm for large-scale infrastructure projects. Even once the satellite buildings are completed, shifting the flag carrier’s entire operation will be a herculean task that itself requires months of planning. Expansion work therefore contin- ues apace at the existing DXB facility. Under the Dubai Airports Strategic Plan 2020, Dhs28.8 billion is being invested to lift DXB’s annual capacity to above 100 million by the end of the decade. The plan envisages an additional 675,000 square metres of floor space across the gateway - twice the footprint of Heathrow’s T erminal 5 - thanks largely to the completion of a brand new concourse next year. “We’ve got Concourse D coming onstream which, with a few other improvements, will take us over 90 million [capacity in 2015],” Griffiths recently confirmed to The Gulf . Al Maktoum Airport at DWC will be able to handle 120 million passengers within ‘ six to eight years’ “We’ve also got some tactical improvements to the way we handle the air traffic control systems. That will give us some very significant improve- ments in the flow rate, and give us some very significant upgrades in our ability to handle the number of air traffic movements that we need to handle. So, all in all, there’s a lot of different initiatives going on that will actually give us the ability to get to our demand of 103.2 [million] by 2020.” With space at DXB dwindling, Griffiths admitted that the scope for any further expansion beyond 2020 will be limited to yet more “technical and flow-process enhancements” that optimise existing facilities. “So [at that point] we are going to have to bite the bullet and start the construction of the second phase of DWC,” he confirmed. Though upgrading two mega-hubs in tandem may seem an excessively ambitious task, there are in fact some symbiotic advantages to the strategy. This summer, for example, the consec- utive closure of DXB’s two runways for resurfacing work gave an operational fillip to both hubs. As well as enhanc- ing DXB’s facilities with additional taxiways and rapid runway exits, the 80-day refurbishment programme allowed DWC to get its first taste of significantly increased passenger operations. A total of 18 airlines requested landing slots at DWC between May and July. Six of those carrier s were already serving the new airport - which began accepting passenger flights in October 2013 - while the other eight were brand new to the facility. This spike in activi- ty resulted in DWC processing 476,000 passengers during the second quarter, more than quadrupling its Q2 2013 by Martin Rivers [email protected] 8 ture - due to a mixture of blinkered political priorities and anti-competitive regulatory environments - and Dubai’s rising star seems all but inevitable. Phase One of the DWC development encompasses two satellite buildings