"Gulf states bet billions on soaring airport demand"

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Gulf states bet billions on soaring airport demand
Agence France Presse


DUBAI - Gulf countries are channelling billions of dollars into airport
expansions, betting on a sharp rise in passenger traffic and competing to
strengthen their positions as regional hubs for global travel.
 
"We are trying to catch up with demand. We are not overspending," said
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, the chairman of Dubai Airports and the
emirate's fast-growing carrier Emirates Airlines, to justify the vast
amounts being poured into the sector.
 
At the Airport Show in Dubai he reiterated plans to spend US$7.8 billion
under the group's Strategic Plan 2020, which should boost the capacity of
Dubai International -- the Middle East busiest airport, from 60 million
passengers to 90 million by 2018.
 
Between Dubai International and Al-Maktoum International, the emirate's
second airport that is planned to be the world's largest and is yet to be
used for passenger traffic, Dubai Airports expects to handle around 98.5
million passengers in 2020.
 
Dubai's airport passenger traffic more than doubled over seven years, from
24.8 million passenger in 2005 to to 50.1 million last year.
 
The airport is now ranked fourth globally in terms of international
passenger traffic as it is mostly used for transit between the West and Asia
and Australasia.
 
Paul Griffiths, the chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, said the
group is focusing on completing concourse 3 that will increase capacity to
75 million passengers. The facility is purpose-built for the Airbus A380
superjumbo, for which Emirates is the largest single customer.
 
"Finishing concourse 3 is our priority. In the first quarter of 2013, it
should be up and running," he told reporters.
 
The aviation sector now contributes 28 percent of Dubai's gross domestic
product, or US$22 billion.
 
Elsewhere in the oil-rich region, airports are being expanded, or new hubs
being erected from scratch, to accommodate an increase in passenger traffic,
mainly in Qatar and neighbouring Abu Dhabi.
 
Figures released at the Airport Show revealed that by 2015, the Dubai, Doha,
and Abu Dhabi airports will reach a combined annual capacity of 190 million
passengers.
 
The rise in air traffic comes as the International Air Transport Association
(IATA) cut back 2012 profit forecast for the airline sector last month over
fears of rising fuel prices due to tension in the Gulf, while it played down
the impact of the European debt crisis.
 
A study showed that the region is now overcrowded, with current capacity
utilisation in the Gulf Cooperation Council running at 115 percent and
reaching 130 percent in Saudi Arabia.
 
Only the UAE has an excess capacity thanks to Dubai's investments.
 
Abu Dhabi airport, the home-base of the fast-growing Etihad Airways, saw the
number of passengers more than double in six years from 5.3 million in 2006
to 12 million in 2011.
 
It currently has the capacity to handle 12.5 million passengers annually,
but this should increase to 47 million when the Midfield Terminal Complex is
completed in 2017.
 
Qatar is building a new airport, about four kilometres (2.5 miles) east of
its existing airport which has been enlarged and refurbished to handle the
increase in passengers as Qatar Airways keeps expanding its routes.
 
The US$14.5-billion new airport is being built on a land half of which is
reclaimed from the Gulf, and should have a capacity of 24 million passengers
when the first phase is completed this year. This should reach around 50
million passengers when the project is fully completed in 2015.
 
Kuwait's old airport is also planned to go through a US$6-billion expansion
to nearly double its capacity to 13 million passengers in 2016, according to
the head of the civil aviation directorate Fawaz al-Farah.
 
The emirate's Kuwait Airways and the no-frills privately-owned Jazeera
Airways operate from Kuwait airport, which handled 8.5 million passengers
last year.
 
"Kuwait applies an open-skies policy for air transport. This (expansion) is
to meet the demands of regional and international routes," said Farah at the
airport show.
 
Saudi Arabia, which occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula has announced
plans to spend between US$10 billion and US$15 billion on building and
upgrading its airports by 2020.
 
The capacity of Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport will be increased
from 14 to 25 million passengers, while a new terminal being built at
Jeddah's airport for $7.21 billion will expand capacity from 17 to 30
million passengers.

 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************