Dubai Airports Push Ahead With Major Expansion

Dubai is pressing ahead with airport expansion as traffic at Dubai International keeps setting records and Al Maktoum International moves from plan to construction. (media.dubaiairports.ae) Dubai Airports said on February 11, 2026 that Dubai International handled 95.2 million passengers in 2025, up 3.1% from a year earlier and the highest annual international traffic recorded by any airport. India was its biggest country market at 11.9 million passengers. (media.dubaiairports.ae) The pressure is visible inside the existing hub. Dubai Airports said Dubai International hit its busiest day, month, quarter and year on record in 2025, with December alone reaching 8.7 million passengers and the airport operating “at the edge of physical capacity.” (media.dubaiairports.ae) That is why Dubai is building out Al Maktoum International, the airport at Dubai World Central in the city’s south. The Dubai government approved the new passenger terminal in April 2024 at a cost of Dh128 billion, or about $34.8 billion. (thenationalnews.com) The planned scale is far beyond a routine terminal upgrade. Dubai said the new airport is designed for up to 260 million passengers, with five parallel runways and about 400 gates, and is intended to absorb Dubai International’s operations over the next decade. (thenationalnews.com) Construction is moving from drawings to contracts. The National reported in March 2026 that Dubai had awarded a Dh1 billion contract for a second runway at Al Maktoum International, part of a wider project tied to jobs and housing around the airport zone. (thenationalnews.com) Dubai is still squeezing more out of the current airport while that longer build-out continues. In the first quarter of 2025, Dubai International handled 23.4 million passengers, and India again ranked first with 3 million, ahead of Saudi Arabia at 1.9 million and the United Kingdom at 1.5 million. (media.dubaiairports.ae) The expansion push is continuing even after regional airspace disruptions tested Gulf aviation in early 2026. Reuters reported on March 2, 2026 that closures across parts of Middle East airspace exposed how heavily long-haul travel depends on hubs such as Dubai. (usnews.com) Dubai Airports has said those shocks do not change the long-term plan. The National reported on February 11, 2026 that chief executive Paul Griffiths said markets hit by turmoil account for about 2% of Dubai International’s passenger volumes. (thenationalnews.com) For now, the story is two airports at once: Dubai International is handling traffic close to its limits, and Al Maktoum is being built to take the next wave. The numbers already show why Dubai is trying to stretch one hub while it constructs the other. (media.dubaiairports.ae)