Construction of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) – which will be the world's largest airport upon its completion – has not slowed down and the project's pace remains “completely unfazed” despite the regional situation, its chief said.
Dh55 billion worth of construction contracts to be awarded for Al Maktoum International Airport in 2026. Photos by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
In an interview on Wednesday, Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said construction projects worth Dh13 billion are underway at the Al Maktoum airport and another Dh55 billion worth of contracts to be awarded by the end of 2026.
“Our confidence in the future is completely unfazed by the development of the new airport,” he said.
“Some 9,000 workers are currently on site. Around Dh13 billion worth of contracts are already under construction, with more than Dh55 billion in additional to be awarded before the end of the year.”
He also pointed to a string of figures as evidence of uninterrupted progress including 10 million work hours logged in the past 15 months, 17,000 piles already driven into the ground, and 45 million cubic metres of earth moved at the site.
Asked whether the pace of construction had slowed amid the fallout from recent regional tensions, Griffiths was unequivocal. “No,” he said.
The aviation sector across the Gulf region has been impacted by the military conflict after the US-Israel attack against Iran on February 28 as Tehran targeted the GCC countries – including aviation assets. Airports across the region were also targeted by Iran during the conflict, resulting in disruption of flights to and from the region during the early weeks of the conflict.
In April 2024, Dubai government announced that all operations at Dubai International (DXB) will be transferred to Al Maktoum International (DWC), with the first phase set to commence operations in 2032. Its passenger capacity will reach 260 million annually when it is fully operational in the coming decades, making it the world's largest airport.
Supply chain pressures
Griffiths said that supply chain challenges remain, describing the issue as a global phenomenon that has persisted since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said Dubai Airports was mobilising suppliers from across the world to keep construction on schedule.
“It’s a massively ambitious and complex project. The design is very, very complex, and it's a very challenging timescale,” he said, adding that Dubai’s approach was to “act first and talk about it later.”
He added that the figures cited reflected work already under way, reinforcing that Al Maktoum International “is not some theoretical project.”
Griffiths said the push to complete DWC was driven by capacity limits at Dubai International Airport (DXB), which he said would be reached by 2032.
“The last thing the city is going to do is to allow its airport infrastructure to constrain its future growth,” he said.
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Waheed Abbas
Waheed Abbas is Assistant Editor, covering real estate, aviation and other business stories that dir...