Louise Driscoll and Joe Bates discover that airport development continues at a pace across the Middle East despite the global economic slowdown.

With an estimated $86 billion being spent on expansion projects, there is no denying that the Middle East region is one of the hottest places on earth for airport development. According to the latest research by Frost & Sullivan, 90% of the big spend will be concentrated on the expansion or creation of new airports at 12 destinations across the region – Abu Dhabi (UAE), Amman (Jordan), Bahrain (Bahrain), Beirut (Lebanon), Cairo (Egypt), Doha (Muscat), Dubai (UAE), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait (Kuwait), Muscat (Oman), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Sharjah (UAE).

“The current economic slowdown will not impact on the Middle East commercial aviation industry and airport development activities will persist, despite the slowdown as most expansion activities are funded by governments in these countries,” notes Frost & Sullivan’s research analyst Gautam Ratan Kanal.

And in many cases the ambitious expansion plans go hand-in-hand with the rapid growth of the airport’s home carriers with Etihad (Abu Dhabi), Emirates (Dubai) and Qatar Airways (Doha) being among the fastest growing airlines in the world.

Dubai’s new $8.1 billion Al Maktoum International Airport – the centrepiece of Dubai World Central, a planned ‘urban aviation community’ spread across a huge 140 square kilometre site – will officially open for cargo operations on June 27.

Although yet to set a date for the launch of passenger operations, a 7mppa capacity terminal is currently under construction.

When complete, it is expected to handle low-cost, regional and charter flights, providing some relief for Dubai International Airport, which handled 40.9 million (+9.2%) passengers last year and predicts 13.6% growth in 2010.

Both airports will eventually be linked by high-speed rail and, in the long-term, Al Maktoum is set to boast two mega terminals, six runways and six concourses capable of handling more than 120mppa.

Elsewhere in the UAE, the nation’s second largest gateway, Abu Dhabi International Airport, is constructing a new Midfield Terminal as part of its $6.8 billion expansion programme.

The new Midfield Terminal, which will effectively replace today’s existing facilities, will raise the gateway’s capacity to 20mppa when it opens in 2015.

The massive project is in-line with the Abu Dhabi government’s ‘Plan 2030’ to diversify the Emirate’s economy to decrease its dependence on oil and gas.

Abu Dhabi Airport Company’s vice president of corporate marketing and communications, George Karamanos, says: “We already have 45 airlines here and the number is growing.

This growth, coupled with Etihad’s fast expanding network and frequencies, means that we have simply outgrown our existing facilities.

We anticipate steady passenger growth for the next five years and beyond.

” The airport has more than doubled its passenger numbers in the six years since Etihad Airways has been operational.

Perhaps central to this rapid growth, the Middle East is geographically well positioned to develop as a primary logistics and transfer hub, feeding passenger traffic and trade between Europe and Asia.

As the Gulf airports transform themselves into ultra-modern new gateways, mega terminals are springing up to serve the world’s biggest passenger aircraft.

One will be in Qatar, where the government is funding the construction of a new $14 billion gateway for capital city, Doha, which is claimed will be one of the first gateways in the world designed to accommodate the A380.

Due to open in July 2011, the New Doha International Airport will initially be capable of handling 24 million passengers and 1.3 million tonnes of cargo per annum.

Its multi-level 350,000sqm passenger terminal – an area equivalent in size to 50 football pitches – will boast 40 gates, a distinctive wave shaped roof to reflect Qatar’s seafaring past and its own 100-room transit hotel and public mosque.

Also aligning airport development with the needs of its airline customers, Oman’s largest gateway, Muscat International Airport, has begun the first phase of its modernisation programme designed to raise its capacity to 12mppa by 2012.

And further expansion is planned in three phases in a bid to boost the airport’s capacity to 48 million passengers by 2050.

Building market share continues to fuel yet more airport expansion.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, state-owned Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) plans to triple its handling capacity to 27mppa and become a ‘mega airport’ for the region through multi-billion dollar investments.

Major construction is due to start this year and includes the addition of two new terminals: Terminal 1A – (adjacent to the existing facility) and demolishing and rebuilding the present terminal with a new Terminal 1B.

BAC is now tendering a design contract for the overall development and has started receiving bids from HOK Architects, Naco, Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie, Mott Macdonald, Jacobs Gibb and Dar al Handasah.

In Amman, Jordan, Airport International Group’s 25 year concession (awarded in 2007) to redevelop and expand Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) includes overseeing a $750m redevelopment and expansion project, as well as the construction of a state-of-the-art 100,000sqm passenger terminal in readiness for a spring 2012 opening.

The long-term objective is to transform QAIA into a key regional hub, while raising capacity from 3.5 to 9mppa.

“We are continuing to experience strong traffic growth despite the dire global economic conditions of the past year,” says AIG’s CEO, Curtis Grad, who notes that passenger throughput increased by 6.5% to 4.7mppa in 2009 while aircraft movements soared by 12.6%.

In Saudi Arabia, major new facilities are planned in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has unveiled plans to invest up to $5 billion on five new gateways, including a possible fourth airport designed to serve the Muslim holy city of Medina.

GACA estimates that in excess of $13 billion needs to be invested on modernising and expanding Saudi Arabia’s airports, with Jeddah– King Abdulaziz being the main beneficiary of the largely government funded upgrade.

In addition to a new 400,000sqm crescent-shaped passenger terminal in Jeddah, the gateway’s $1.5 billion upgrade includes new runways, a state-of-the-art 450,000 tonnes per annum capacity cargo complex, new ATC tower and railway station in readiness for a rail link to both downtown Jeddah and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

A planned Automated People Mover (APM) will provide the ground transportation links between the new 42-gate terminal and the Hajj Terminal, which is being expanded and redeveloped by the Hajj and Umrah Terminals Construction and Development Co (HTDC) on behalf of concessionaire SBG.

In addition to King Abdulaziz, a master plan currently being drawn up by NACO will involve increasing the capacity of Riyadh–King Khaled International Airport from 14mppa to 40mppa by 2038.

“We are also conducting studies at King Fahd International Airport (Dammam) and 13 other regional gateways which we believe are most in need of extra capacity.

Of these, Abha is our top priority as it is the fifth busiest airport in the Kingdom,” says HH Prince Turki Faisal Al-Saud, GACA’s vice president of international organisation affairs and ACI Asia-Pacific’s acting first vice president.

Meanwhile Kuwait International Airport is planning to upgrade its airfield and construct a 90,000sqm second terminal that will treble its capacity to in excess of 20 million passengers per annum by 2013.

Additional expansion plans include a two million square metre cargo and logistics complex that when complete will be capable of simultaneously accommodating up to 70 A380s and around six million tonnes of freight annually.

The hugely ambitious development programme, being drawn up by the airport as it prepares its master plan for the next 30 years, would create an impressive new ‘front door’ to Kuwait that will help the airport cope with rising demand of up to 17% per annum.

In the short and medium-term, the greater need for capacity and the drive towards airport infrastructure development will continue as the home carriers in the Middle East continue their growth paths across pan-Arabian and Intercontinental networks.

Asia-Pacific Airports 2010 Issue 1