DWC could suffer further delays

Al Maktoum International Airport may not open until 2015 and could feature one less runway than planned plus first flight dates of 2010 could also be put back, reported Reuters.

As the global economic crisis continues to eat into air traffic growth rates, Dubai Airports Company (DAC) chief executive Paul Griffiths said in an interview that phase one of the $10bn Maktoum International Airport project, which will see it handling freight, may miss its scheduled June 2010 completion date.

The first cargo flights had initially been due to take off from the new airport in mid-2008.

DAC was considering developing facilities at Dubai’s existing airport to deal with additional traffic until the new airport opens, he said in a recent interview.
“If we can buy more time at this airport by using our facilities more effectively... then we may have the luxury of being able to defer the opening slightly or continue to operate it on schedule,” Griffiths said, adding that a decision would be made in a couple of weeks’ time.

The existing airport is also undergoing an expansion that includes plans for a new runway to accommodate Emirates Airlines’ A380s.

In April, a planned $1.3bn deal with Australian engineering firm Leighton Holdings to build the runway was scrapped, but Griffiths said the project would go ahead and be completed on schedule at the end of 2011.

DWC may now lose one of its six runways

While Dubai International Airport is one of the few major airports in the world to report any growth in traffic this year as the global downturn hits trade and tourism, the rate of growth has fallen dramatically.

Traffic grew 2% to 9.5mn passengers in the first quarter, down sharply from a 15% rise in the same period of 2008 and 17.7% growth in January-March 2007.

“Compared to every single airport in the top 10 in the world we are the only ones who are recording positive growth,” said Griffiths. “Investment in our infrastructure is continuing.”

But the new airport is now expected to have five active runways rather than six as initially planned, though it will be still be able to handle up to 160mn passengers as planned once fully operational, he said.

The second phase of the new airport will see it handling charter and low-cost carriers and Griffiths said that would be completed in “the second half of the next decade, from 2015 onwards”, without being more specific.

“We decided that the rush to complete wouldn’t get the right quality of service and also because we’ve made more efficient use of this airport the need to have that additional capacity we’ve pushed back a couple of years,” he said.