DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, has had 70.1 million passengers already this year and is on track to break its own records again, officials said Wednesday.The rapid growth of passengers at the airport underscores Dubai as a key hub for East-West travel in global aviation and the need for its $35 billion project to build a massive, five-runway airport at Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central.“The most exciting thing is having created the world’s largest international airport for the last 11 years,” Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, told The Associated Press.
“We are now going to do it all over again, and I think that doesn’t happen in many people’s lifetimes.”The city-state's second airport is now hosting the biennial Dubai Air Show, which already has seen major aircraft orders by both the long-haul carrier Emirates and its lower-cost sister airline FlyDubai.Those purchases will fuel a major expansion of the routes flown by the two state-owned airlines as they move to Al Maktoum, likely beginning in 2032.
Current forecasts predict the airport handling 150 million passengers a year at that point.On Tuesday, the United Kingdom's Export Finance, the UK's export credit agency, issued a $3.5 billion expression of interest letter to back construction at Al Maktoum.
That will provide guarantees to British firms to provide equipment and services to the airport project.“This is going to be a massive effort of international cooperation from so many countries around the world providing all of the advanced systems,” Griffiths said.
“Hopefully we’ll have an airport not just capable of 150 million annual passengers, but one that absolutely exemplifies the best possible technology, the best processes.”Among the innovations Griffiths hopes to see at the new airport will be an expansion of efforts at Dubai International Airport that allows first- and busine...