Dubai International Airport (DXB), one of the world’s busiest hubs, will one day close, according to its CEO. Dubai Airports chief Paul Griffiths has confirmed DXB will shut, to be turned into a new real estate masterplan.
Speaking on stage at Arabian Travel Market on Wednesday, he reasoned that the airport will no longer be needed once Dubai Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) is fully up and running.
“The current thinking is [that] when DXB gets to a point where we’ve got enough capacity at DWC to make the complete transition, we will move every single service to DWC,” he said on stage, responding to a question from Skift. “There is little sense in operating two major hubs with such close proximity to one another.”
DXB first opened in 1960 and has since swelled to a behemoth in aviation, welcoming 92 million passengers last year. Griffiths suggested that by the time DWC is fully functional, DXB could be too old to maintain.
“The other point is that DXB by then, every single asset at DXB will be close to the end of its useful operating role, so the economics of keeping DXB open will not be possible unless we invest a huge amount of money.”
Dubai’s New Mega-Airport
Announced last year, DWC is expected to cost $35 billion and see up to 260 million passengers annually pass through its doors. Built in sections, the eventual design will feature up to 400 aircraft gates and five parallel runways.
DWC doesn’t have a firm timeline at the time of writing, but officials say its first phase (of an undisclosed size) will be completed in 2033.
Griffiths likened the fate of DXB to what had been seen in Hong Kong’s old airport at the start of the century. Its former Kai Tak Airport has been transformed into real estate and commercial development districts.
“If you look at what happened in Hong Kong when Kai Tak closed, they were able to move the entire operation to CRK [Chek Lap Kok]. At that time, Kai Tak had only 20 million [passengers], so to make six times that amount will take a bit longer than overnight.
“I rather think that as we get towards DWC’s full scale of operations, the focus will shift there, DXB will close and we’ll redevelop the area. It will spread the city out.”
However, the CEO couldn’t give a firm answer about how long this could all take.
“As far as a timeline for DXB, we’re talking quite a long time in the future. I’m sure there are a number of real estate developers excited to get their hands on it for redevelopment. I can’t really give [an] indication until we get there,” added Griffiths.
Watch Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths at Skift Global Forum East 2024:
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