Al Maktoum International Airport

Al Maktoum International Airport
IATA: DWC – ICAO: OMDW
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Government of Dubai
Operator Dubai Airports Company
Serves Dubai
Location Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates
Opened 27 June 2010[1]
Hub for Emirates SkyCargo
Time zone UAE Standard Time (UTC+04:00)
Elevation AMSL 170 ft / 52 m
Coordinates 24°55′06″N 55°10′32″E / 24.91833°N 55.17556°ECoordinates: 24°55′06″N 55°10′32″E / 24.91833°N 55.17556°E
Website www.dwc.ae
Map
OMDW

Location in the UAE

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 4,500 14,764 Asphalt
Sources: UAE AIP[2]

Al Maktoum International Airport (IATA: DWC, ICAO: OMDW) is an international airport in Jebel Ali, 37 kilometres (23 mi) south west[2] of Dubai, United Arab Emirates that opened on 27 June 2010.[1] It is the main part of Dubai World Central, a planned residential, commercial and logistics complex. The airport will contain the most transport modes, logistics and value-added services, including manufacturing and assembly, in a single free economic zone.[3] It will cover an area of 35,000 acres (140 km2). The airport has a projected annual capacity of 12 million tonnes (12,000,000 long tons; 13,000,000 short tons) of freight and between 160 million[4] and 260 million passengers.[5] As of December 2014, only a handful of airlines operate passenger services out of Al Maktoum International Airport.[5]

History

Previous working names for the airport complex have included "Jebel Ali International Airport", "Jebel Ali Airport City", and "Dubai World Central International Airport". It has been named after the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the former ruler of Dubai.

Construction

The 4,500 m × 60 m (14,760 ft × 200 ft) runway was completed in 600 days and subsequently underwent tests over the following six to eight months in order to fulfil its CAT III-C requirements.[6] Construction of the airport's cargo terminal, the Al Maktoum Airport Cargo Gateway, which cost around US$75 million, was 50% complete by the end of 2008.[7]

During the first phase of the project, the airport is planned to handle around 200,000 t (200,000 long tons; 220,000 short tons) of cargo per year, with the possibility of increasing to 800,000 t (790,000 long tons; 880,000 short tons).[7] The passenger terminal at this phase is designed to have a capacity of 5 million passengers per year.[8] It was planned to be the largest airport in the world in terms of freight handled, moving up to 12 million tonnes (12,000,000 long tons; 13,000,000 short tons) per year in 2013.[7]

The project was originally expected to be fully operational by 2017, although the 2007–2012 global financial crisis subsequently postponed the completion of the complex to 2027.

Operations

Al Maktoum International Airport opened on 27 June 2010 with one runway and only cargo flights.[1] The first flight into the airport occurred on 20 June 2010, when an Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777F landed after a flight from Hong Kong. The flight served as a test for various functions such as air traffic control, movement of aircraft on the ground, and security. According to Emirates, the flight was an "unmitigated success".[9]

On 24 February 2011, the airport was certified to handle passenger aircraft with up to 60 passengers.[10] The first passenger aircraft touched down on 28 February 2011, an Airbus A319CJ.[11] The airport officially opened for passenger flights on 26 October 2013 with Nas Air and Wizz Air as the two carriers to operate from the airport.[12]

In the first quarter of 2014, 102,000 passengers went through the airport.[13]

Airlines and destinations

At the time of its opening, three cargo service airlines served Al Maktoum International Airport, including RUS Aviation, Aerospace Consortium and European Cargo Services. Fifteen additional airlines have signed a contract to operate flights to the airport.[14]

Passenger

Airlines Destinations
Air Kyrgyzstan Seasonal charter: Bishkek[15][16]
Arkefly Seasonal charter: Amsterdam
Gulf Air Bahrain
Jazeera Airways Kuwait
Jet Time Seasonal charter: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda
Neos Air Seasonal charter: Bari, Bologna, Catania, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Rome–Fiumicino, Verona
Primera Air Seasonal charter: Göteborg–Landvetter, Malmö, Stockholm–Arlanda
Qatar AirwaysDoha[17]
Rotana Jet[18] Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas
TUIfly Seasonal charter: Hannover
VIM AirlinesSeasonal charter: Makhachkala
Wizz Air Bucharest, Budapest, Sofia

Cargo

Airlines Destinations
Cathay Pacific Cargo Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London-Heathrow, Milan-Malpensa, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
China Airlines Cargo[19]Amsterdam, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Frankfurt, Hanoi, Luxembourg, Prague, Taipei-Taoyuan
Emirates SkyCargo Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Algiers, Amsterdam, Bahrain, Basel, Beirut, Cairo, Campinas, Chennai, Chicago, Chittagong, Copenhagen, Dakar, Dammam, Dhaka, Djibouti, Eldoret, Entebbe, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Houston–Intercontinental, Kano, Khartoum, Lagos, Lilongwe, London Stansted, Los Angeles, Lyon, Mexico City, Milan Malpensa, Moscow–Domodedovo, Mumbai, Nairobi, New York-JFK, Ouagadougou, Quito, Sana'a, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Singapore, Sydney, Tunis, Zaragoza[20]
Etihad CargoAbu Dhabi, Chittagong, Hong Kong, Kabul, Shanghai, Tbilisi[21]
Kalitta Air Amsterdam, Bahrain, Kandahar, Hong Kong
Martinair CargoAmsterdam, Bahrain, Chennai, Hong Kong[22]
MASkargoAmsterdam, Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur[23]
Turkish Airlines Cargo Istanbul–Atatürk, Mumbai

Facilities

Al Maktoum International Airport layout (2006 model)

The airport will be the largest component of Dubai World Central with a surface area of more than 140 square kilometres (54 sq mi). If completed as planned, the airport will have an annual cargo capacity of 12 million tonnes (12,000,000 long tons; 13,000,000 short tons), and a passenger capacity of up to 160 million people per year. This would make it the largest airport in the world in both physical size and passenger volume.[24][25]

Al Maktoum International Airport intends to handle all types of aircraft.[26] Up to four aircraft will be able to land simultaneously.

The airport will include:

Al Maktoum International Airport will be linked to the existing Dubai International Airport by a proposed high-speed express rail system, and served by the Dubai Metro and a dedicated Dubai World Central light railway.

The airport was initially planned to have six runways, but this number was reduced to five 4,500 m (14,800 ft) parallel runways in April 2009, with a large passenger complex in the middle. Furthermore, each runway would have extended asphalted pathways on either side which would allow aircraft to by-pass other runways and taxiways without disturbing aircraft movements of these runways and taxiways. Dubai expects an exponential rise in passenger traffic over its skies, with the presumption that it will become the primary air hub for transiting travelers from the Asia–Pacific Region, South Asia, Greater Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Australia (for the Kangaroo route: Australia to Britain and back).

Several large warehouses and hangars line the westernmost part of the airport. These interlinked hangars will stretch from end-to-end of the westernmost runway. Each of these is capable of housing A380 aircraft.

The airport will complement Dubai International Airport, some 40 km (25 mi) away. It is surrounded by a logistics hub, a luxurious golf resort, a trade and exhibition facility with 3 million square metres of exhibition space, a commercial district, and a residential and hotel area.[27]

The Dubai World Central will have a total of 100,000 parking slots for automobile vehicles for its employees, Dubai residents, tourists, and other users.[28]

The total cost of the airport has been estimated by the Dubai government to be $82 billion.[29]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dubai World Central celebrates inauguration of Al Maktoum International Airport at the Wayback Machine (archived August 31, 2010)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 United Arab Emirates AIP (login required)
  3. ↑ "A whole new world". venturemagazine – Ventureonline. Schofield Publishing Ltd. 20 Jun 2007. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2013.
  4. ↑ "Al Maktoum International Airport". dwc.ae – Dubai World Central. Dubai World Central. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Flottau, Jens; Osborne, Tony (17 September 2014). "First Phase Of Dubai World Central To Be Ready In Six To Eight Years". Aviation Week.
  6. ↑ "Al-Maktoum International, formerly Dubai World Central, runway complete". Flightglobal. Reed Business Information. 5 Nov 2007. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Staff Writer (2008, January 7) Arabianbusiness.com Dubai Cargo Village announces major restructure
  8. ↑ "Dubai opens second airport". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 28 June 2010. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  9. ↑ "PICTURES: SkyCargo 777 tests new Dubai Al-Maktoum Airport". Flightglobal.com. 21 June 2010. Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  10. ↑ "No airline operations at Al-Maktoum before fourth quarter". Flightglobal.com. 24 February 2011. Archived from the original on 24 February 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  11. ↑ "First Passenger Aircraft landed". Smartarabs.com. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  12. ↑ "New Dubai World Central international airport to open passenger terminal in October". GulfNews.com. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  13. ↑ http://www.thenational.ae/six-figure-passenger-numbers-for-dubais-al-maktoum-airport-at-dwc-in-debut-quarter
  14. ↑ "Al Maktoum International airport begins operations". Gulf News. 27 June 2010. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  15. ↑ JL (5 November 2013). "Kyrgyzstan Air to Start Bishkek – Dubai Al Maktoum Service from Dec 2013; Airline Route – Worldwide Airline Route Updates". Airlineroute.net. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  16. ↑ Manas Airport time table
  17. ↑ "QATAR AIRWAYS EXPANDS SERVICES TO UAE: Additional Routes to Sharjah and Dubai World Central" (Press release). Doha: Qatar Airways Group, Corporate Communications Department. 27 Oct 2013. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-23.
  18. ↑ El Gazzar, Shereen (2014-10-27). "Rotana Jet moves base to Abu Dhabi International". Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  19. ↑ China Airlines Cargo move Middle East operations to DWC
  20. ↑ Emirates Skycargo timetable search
  21. ↑ ETIHAD Cargo Planned W13 Operations
  22. ↑ MP Cargo winter 2012 timetable
  23. ↑ MASkargo network
  24. ↑ "The new Al Maktoum International Airport opens in Dubai tomorrow and will be the worlds busiest airport". Dubai Informer. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  25. ↑ Zeidan, Ghaleb (2009, November 9) pr2live.com Dubai Aviation City Corporation Executive Chairman outlines Dubai's strategic focus on transport and logistics at SITL Dubai 2009
  26. ↑ "Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai (DWC/OMDW)". Airport Technology. 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  27. ↑ Press Release (2007, Nov 11) Dubai World Central Dubai World Central Aviation City Master Plan Launched
  28. ↑ "Al Maktoum International Airport uae | dubai world central international airport | region's biggest airport, dubai world central uae | new airports UAE, dubai". Airport.ae. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  29. ↑ "Zawya Projects". Zawya.com. Retrieved 2013-11-04.

External links

Media related to Dubai World Central International Airport at Wikimedia Commons