News

The big picture: first flight touches down at Dubai World Central

21 Jun 2010 by BusinessTraveller

Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International airport welcomed its first flight yesterday, an Emirates 777 test cargo freighter.

The test flight EK9883 paves the way for scheduled cargo operations to begin next Sunday, with passenger flights due to commence in March next year. 

Phase 1 of the development will feature one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with an annual capacity for 250,000 tonnes of cargo and a passenger terminal building designed to accommodate five million passengers per year. But these figures will be dwarfed when the airport is completed, with five runways, four terminal buildings, and a capacity for 160 million passengers.

The airport forms part of the US$33 billion Dubai World Central project, “designed to serve the city's aviation, tourism, commercial and logistics requirements up to 2050 and beyond”. 

"This is an important milestone, not only for the airport's certification process, but as another step towards achieving Dubai's vision to become the pre-eminent centre for aviation worldwide," said Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports.

For more information visit dwc.ae.

Report by Mark Caswell

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