Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) has awarded an estimated AED10bn ($2.7bn) contract for the West Terminal substructure at Al Maktoum International airport, MEED reported on 9 October.
The award moves the first phase of the airport’s $35bn expansion into its main build, and the 800,000-square-metre terminal is designed for 45 million passengers a year, giving airlines, concessionaires and airport suppliers a dated pipeline of packages to bid for.
The contract goes to a joint venture of Beijing-based China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and Abu Dhabi-based Tristar Engineering & Construction. The seven-level West Terminal is the second of three planned at the airport. DAEP said in June that it would award construction contracts worth more than AED55bn ($15bn) by the end of 2026.
The terminal will connect to the airside through an automated people-mover system with 14 stations at full build-out. In July, DAEP awarded an estimated $1.5bn people-mover contract to a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corporation and Larsen & Toubro, covering four underground stations in the first phase. Other awards so far cover enabling works, the second runway, initial structural foundations and concourse substructures.
Packages still to come include the superstructure, the fourth concourse, the baggage-handling system, and the façade and roofing works.
Once complete, the airport will cover 70 square kilometres south of Dubai, with five parallel runways and 430 aircraft gates. Planned capacity is 260 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo a year, five times the size of Dubai International. Coop Himmelb(l)au and Dar Al-Handasah were confirmed in 2024 as lead masterplanning and design consultants.
Demand from the region is already strong: Saudi Arabia and the UAE generate 80% of MENA business trips, Emerging Travel reported.