Dubai’s ambitions unbowed as world’s biggest airport gets flying | Beyond Brics | FT.com

Don’t let Dubai’s debt pile fool you. The Gulf emirate still has the ambition to shock the world with its mammoth projects. Al Maktoum International airport, a huge $32bn development - nearer the border with Abu Dhabi than Dubai city itself - opened its first runway and cargo terminal to 12 freighter operators this week ahead of next March’s opening of a new passenger terminal - but the plan is to develop the world’s busiest airport.

Al Maktoum may be a legacy of Dubai’s boom years, which have now turned into a $110bn debt mountain and gaping real estate overhang. But the government shows no signs of slowing down aggressive expansion of both passenger and cargo flights, as the emirate seeks to exploit its strategic position and healthy track record in the industry.

The two terminal’s at Dubai’s existing airport, located near the city’s original business district, last year handled just shy of 50m passengers, but with y-on-y growth of almost 18 per cent in the January-May period, Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, says the “signs are looking good” and this year could see an additional 5-6m people passing through the city. Cargo over the same period has risen 27 per cent. And that growth is coming as the global industry faces serious challenges.
“The Middle East is breaking the mould and Dubai is leading that charge,” he tells the Financial Times.
Since Dubai received its first passenger flight in 1937, aviation has proved a cornerstone of the city’s rapid growth, complementing the traditional entrepot trade around the creek.