Aerospace Global News
22 August 2024

Five runways. A record-breaking 160 million guests a year. 168 square kilometres of total space. But it's not just size that matters at the expanding Al Maktoum International Airport - with technological integration at its heart every bit as essential.

The challenge of designing and building an airport capable of welcoming a record-breaking 160 million guests a year is undoubtedly a complex one. Ahead of Dubai International’s move to Al Maktoum International, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths explained to Aerospace Global News just how the world’s largest international airport intends to keep its crown, and the unique opportunities offered by the upcoming expansion.

Through the integration of technologies initially implemented to enhance and simplify passenger operations at Dubai International, “I think airport design is going to change dramatically over the next decade to accommodate that philosophy,” he mused.

...this second facility opened in 2010 for cargo operations (and passengers a few years later), the airport is still in its relatively early stages of design; providing an ideal opportunity for creatively-conceived development.

The entire Al Maktoum location (encompassing some 168 square kilometres, or the equivalent of 19,200 football pitches) is an “absolutely massive site overall, and the airport alone is about 70 square kilometres of that,” explained Griffiths. Crucially, the undeveloped greenfield site will allow the airport to “evolve a holistic strategy for all the initiatives you’re taking and the designs you’re putting together in one go,” representing a unique synergy between physical facilities and technological incentives from the design phase.

Musing on the concept of having “rethought the process of why an airport exists” – at its heart, an interface between airborne and ground-based transportation – “we should be consolidating processes and getting rid of all these legacy practices in traditional airports that really shouldn’t exist,” said Griffiths.

Read on: Exploring the upcoming Al Maktoum International Airport (aerospaceglobalnews.com)

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