Al Maktoum Airport Phase Targets 150 Million Passengers

Al Maktoum International Airport’s expanded first phase is scheduled to open in 2032 with enough annual capacity for 150 million passengers, Gulf News reported, making Dubai’s next aviation hub larger than today’s record traffic at Dubai International.

The project is not starting from an empty site.

Dubai World Central already operates on a smaller scale, while the expansion is intended to shift Dubai’s main aviation activity to Al Maktoum International as new capacity comes online rather than through an abrupt switch.

The first phase sets the near-term scale.

Dubai Government confirmed in June that the 2032 operations target remains on schedule, with work progressing on runway infrastructure, passenger-terminal foundations and other major packages.

DXB handled 95.2 million passengers in 2025, so the first phase alone is being designed above the city’s current annual airport traffic record.

Full build-out raises the numbers again: 260 million passengers a year, 12 million tonnes of cargo and five parallel runways.

The ultimate airport plan carries more than 430 aircraft stands, while the initial strategic phase has roughly 400 active and reserve aircraft positions.

That makes the project an airfield, passenger and cargo system rather than a terminal enlargement.

The investment already has several layers of committed work.

The approved cost of the passenger terminal project is AED128 billion, and Dubai Airports describes the wider development as a US$35 billion investment.

The terminal design received approval in 2024, when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum linked the plan to the world’s largest airport capacity, five parallel runways and 400 aircraft gates.

Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths told reporters that Dh13 billion of contracts are under construction and that a further Dh55 billion is due to be awarded across packages in the coming months.

Construction activity shows how much of the project is already physical rather than only planned: over the past 15 months, the airport work has logged 10 million work hours, placed 17,000 piles in the ground and moved 45 million cubic metres of earth at DWC.

The site is planned at about 70 square kilometres as part of Dubai South, linking aviation capacity with logistics, transport and other economic activity around the airport.

Cargo capacity is central to that layout because the completed airport is intended to handle 12 million tonnes of freight annually, tying the passenger hub to Dubai’s wider trade and logistics district.

Passenger systems are part of the capacity design.

Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects lists 15 minutes as the planned baggage delivery time, and the ground-transport package covers a metro link, parking for 6,000 vehicles and four automated passenger-mover stops connecting the terminal and concourses.

The expansion is also phased around continuity at DXB.

Dubai Airports has described the eventual transition as carefully managed, with Al Maktoum International absorbing activity as capacity becomes available.

DXB remains Dubai’s main international gateway after its 95.2 million-passenger year in 2025, so the timing of individual airline and flight transfers will depend on when the new airport’s operating capacity is ready for use.