Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Dubai to build world's largest airport
Indo-Asian News Service
Dubai, November 22, 2005
The world's largest airport, Jebel Ali International Airport, which will be built in Dubai at a cost of $8.3 billion, will be able to handle 120 million passengers a year, reports said on Tuesday.
That volume of passengers would far exceed that of London's Heathrow Airport that has a current throughput of 83.5 million, local news agency WAM said.
The airport, coded JXB, will be ten times bigger than Dubai International Airport and will occupy an area equal to that of Heathrow Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport combined, WAM said.
The department of civil aviation of the Dubai government on Monday launched Jebel Ali Airport City (JAAC), a 140-sq-km development with the airport at its centre.
Announcing the project at Dubai's ninth international aerospace exhibition, the department's director of engineering, Khalifa Al Zaffin, said the project was designed to serve Dubai's passenger and cargo air transportation needs until 2050 and beyond.
"The tendering process has started for a project which has been conceived to ensure that Dubai will not be hampered by capacity constraints," he said, adding the airport would accommodate "every aircraft type yet conceived".
The airport will have at least six parallel runways and as many concourses capable of handling more than 120 million passengers and more than 12 million tonnes of cargo annually.
The project will be completed in phases, with the first aircraft expected to land at the airport early 2007 on completion of phase one.
The project will be financed through internal resources and consortium banking.
JAAC has been conceived as a mixed-use urban environment, comprising business, residential, educational and entertainment areas.
The so-called Dubai Logistics City will house businesses requiring or providing international logistics and transport services.
The so-called Commercial City will comprise up to 850 towers reaching up to 300 metres in height.
Dubai, one of the seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, is the commercial and tourist hub of the region.
© HT Media Ltd. 2005.