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Dubai Delays Airport Opening as Capacity Needs Slow

“Our new Terminal 3 at Dubai International has taken capacity to 60 million passengers and currently we have approximately 38 million passengers a year,” Paul Griffiths, Dubai Airports’ chief executive told Zawya Dow Jones by telephone. “We’ve got a few more years before we run out of capacity.”

The first passenger terminal at the new airport was due to open in the third quarter of 2009, Griffiths said last October. However, the opening is likely to be pushed back to mid-2010, the chief executive said on Sunday. “We’ve got an opening programme and we’re sticking to that,” Griffiths said. “It’s a long and complex process that includes hiring hundreds of staff, as well as other issues. A serial outcome of all these factors means that mid-2010 looks like a more likely date.” Griffiths said changes to infrastructure plans have also delayed the process. Once completed, Al Maktoum International Airport will have the capacity to handle 120 million passengers annually — almost twice the passenger throughput of the world’s top airports
 today.