Dubai Is Building the World's Largest Airport - 260 Million Passengers and AED 55 Billion in 2026 Contracts
Al Maktoum International enters full-scale construction. Phase one in 2032, Emirates moving from DXB.
Dubai is not building an airport - it is building a new centre of world aviation. On June 15, emirate officials confirmed that the Al Maktoum International ( DWC ) expansion is on schedule, phase one opens in 2032, and the scale of the project has put the city back on global front pages.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum called it “our new global airport.” The numbers explain why:
- final capacity - more than 260 million passengers per year
- cargo throughput - 12 million tonnes of air freight
- 5 parallel runways operating independently
- 2 passenger terminals, 7 concourses, over 430 aircraft stands
- total project budget - around $35 billion ( AED 128 billion )
Contracts worth AED 13 billion ( $3.5 billion ) are already under execution. By the end of 2026, strategic tenders worth more than AED 55 billion ( $15 billion ) are due to be awarded - including the Western Passenger Terminal, baggage systems, APM links, and the first three aircraft concourses.
Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed and Dubai Airports chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum stressed the project has moved into large-scale construction, not scale-model presentations.
What it means for travellers:
- Dubai International ( DXB ) in Garhoud will eventually hand passenger operations to the south, at Dubai World Central
- Emirates’ home base becomes Al Maktoum - the logistics giant physically relocates to infrastructure built for decades ahead
- multimodal connectivity: airport, rail, and road in one hub
For UAE residents this is not tourism alone. Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects and Dubai Finance frame the site as an anchor for trade, logistics, and “future readiness” - Dubai code for “we build 20 years ahead while others argue about Terminal B.”
2032 is the operational date to remember. Full build-out will take years, but the direction is clear: skyscrapers stay downtown, planes move to the desert - into the most ambitious airport on the planet.