DUBAI — Debt-laden Dubai opened its second airport on Sunday, three weeks after its flagship carrier Emirates placed a major order for Airbus 380 superjumbos, enforcing its status as an air transport hub.
The first plane landed on the sole runway of the Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport — named after the emirate’s ruling family, Dubai Airports said in a statement.
Three air freight companies have begun operations from the new airport with 12 others due to follow, it said.
The first phase be confined to freight traffic, with a capacity to handle 250,000 tonnes annually while passenger traffic was scheduled to begin in March 2011, with an annual capacity of five million passengers.
“We have achieved another important step towards completing” the airport, said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the head of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.
Situated on the desert outskirts of Dubai and close to the Jebel Ali port and its large free zone, DWC-Al Maktoum International is touted to become the world’s largest airport when completed at an undisclosed date.[Read More]
