New low-cost airline will start flying there in 2009

As if there weren’t enough mega-construction projects in Dubai already, a 2009 opening is expected for the first phase of the country’s new al-Maktoum International Airport. The facility, located 25 miles from Old Dubai at Jebel Ali, won’t be fully completed until around 2015, but its scope is enormous. The new Dubai airport will serve as the centerpiece of an even larger development called Dubai World Central, which will house as many as 900,000 residents as well as various business complexes. The airport will cover 54 square miles – larger than the space occupied by London Heathrow and Chicago O’Hare combined. Its two terminals, six concourses and six parallel runways will give it an eventual passenger capacity of 120 million passengers a year, vs. Heathrow’s current total of 68 million. Heathrow is currently the world’s busiest airport. One of the first users of the new Dubai airport will be a new low-cost airline called FlyDubai, an affiliate of Emirates. Last week, Emirates chairman Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum announced a $3.8 billion order with Boeing for 54 737-800s to be used by the new regional carrier. It is expected to start flying in 2009.