The completion of the first runway at the huge new airport currently being built in Dubai shows that Middle East airport expansion is well under way.
Ten leading Middle East airports are set to invest a total of almost US$37 billion in new airport developments by 2012, according to the Sydney-based consultancy Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
In the Gulf area, Dubai and Qatar are currently building large new international airports that are to come on line in 2008 and 2009, respectively, while Bahrain and Sharjah are planning further expansion of their existing airports.
The number and scale of such projects has led to renewed speculation that the region is heading for large-scale overcapacity in the airport sector. However, CAPA was relatively bullish about the region's prospects.
"Once the underlying issues, trends and recent growth patterns are considered in greater detail, a picture emerges of a potentially remarkable and long-term sustainable growth path, rather than an excessive, unplanned, over-hyped bubble which is about to burst, as many outside the region (and some within) may believe," it said.
The CAPA report said suggestions by analysts that airport and airline expansion in the Gulf region would lead to great overcapacity overlooked the fact that the fundamentals of the global aviation industry were rapidly changing.
Specifically, it said, the value of the Gulf's near-perfect geographic position as a hub had been enhanced enormously over the past five years by two particular factors: first, international aviation sector liberalisation, which allowed intermediate airports to become valuable crossroad hubs; second, the introduction of ultra long-haul aircraft which allowed the operation of non-stop services between almost any points in the world.
"Together, these features should help the region's major airlines and airports to be at the forefront of the next generation aviation evolution. In this environment, growth rates can be achieved at levels which were previously impossible," it said.
That certainly seems to be the view in Dubai where the recent completion of a 4.5 km runway at the emirate's new international airport, the first of at least six parallel runways planned for that gateway, is intended to pave the way for the start of operations there in 2008.
Originally referred to as Dubai World Central but recently renamed Al-Maktoum International, the new $10 billion airport is located just 40 km from the existing Dubai International Airport (DIA). Ultimately, it is intended to have an annual cargo-handling capacity of 12 million tonnes.
"A Customs-bonded road and rail corridor between the two airports will enable fast cargo and passenger movement," according to the Dubai government's Department of Civil Aviation.
Meanwhile, DIA is continuing to report strong traffic growth. During the fix six months of this year, for example, its Dubai Cargo Village reported a more than 10 percent increase in traffic, compared with the first half of 2006, to almost 752,000 tonnes.
In Qatar, work is continuing on the construction of a new international airport at Doha which is currently due to begin operations in 2009, with further phases of development to follow through to 2015. Total investment in the airport, which will span 22 sq km and feature two parallel runways, is expected to reach $10 billion by the end of 2009. Ultimate annual traffic capacity is projected to include two million tonnes of cargo.
Elsewhere in the Gulf area, Sharjah International Airport is planning to raise $500 million to finance either extensions to existing facilities or the building of a new passenger terminal and runway following a revision of its master plan for long-term development.
Further up the Gulf, a $334 million expansion of Bahrain International Airport is scheduled to start in 2008 and be completed in 2010. Developments to date this year have included modernisation of the existing runway infrastructure to allow the airport to receive A380 aircraft. |
