Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, has announced that the New Doha International Airport (NDIA) will be open in under 12 months, although he said the airport will be thoroughly tested for six months preceeding opening, and did not rule out delays into the early months of 2013.
Mr Al Baker also said that the transfer of operations will not be phased between the two airports, but will happen over a six-hour period.
Situated approximately four kilometres east of the existing airport, the NDIA will have two runways – a 4,850-metre runway and a 4,250-metre runway both capable of taking a fully loaded Airbus A380 aircraft, the two runways having enough separation to run concurrently.
NDIA will open as part of Phase One with a cost of US$14.5 billion and a capacity of 28 million passengers (the current Doha International Airport currently handles 18 million passengers).
NDIA is a 2,200-hectare airport site, more than half of which is built on reclaimed land from the Arabian Gulf. Forecasted for maximum development from 2015 onwards, NDIA will eventually double in capacity to over 50 million passengers by the time the airport is fully operational in 2018.
The airport will incorporate a total of 41 wide body aircraft contact gates, together with over 40,000sqm of space devoted to retail facilities, passenger lounges, and multi-story short-term and long-term parking.
Other features will include a new Emiri (royal) Terminal complex for VIP flights with additional hardstands, cargo terminal buildings, aircraft hangars and associated airline and airport ancillary features. The complex will include an airport hotel and a 100-room transit hotel within the terminal for the convenience of transfer passengers.
Phase One – Completion By 2012
- A 600,000 square metre three-storey terminal with 22 remote gates and 41 contact gates, six of which will cater specifically for the A380. The terminal will have a capacity of 24 million passengers a year
- More than 40,000 square metres of retail facilities and passenger lounges
- An Aircraft Maintenance Centre with a hangar that can accommodate up to 13 aircraft of different types at any one time, including Airbus A380s, A330s, A340s, A320 Family of aircraft, Boeing 777s, next generation Boeing 787s and A350s
- A cargo facility with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes a year. It will have 11 hardstand aircraft parking bays
- A General Aviation Terminal and Hangar
- A courier and mail facility
- Three road interchanges to access the new airport from Ras Abu Aboud Road
Final Phase – Beyond 2015
- The addition of another 24 contact gates, to take the total number to 65 - six of them will cater for the A380s
- The further extension of the terminal building to 900,000 square metres to handle 50 million passengers a year
The video above is the third released by NDIA throughout the development process - for previous videos click here.
Report by Tom Otley
