The world's busiest international airport is shutting down. What's next?
More of a luxury shopping mall with planes, DXB far outshines any of our airports and if, like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, you were ever stranded there, you probably wouldn't mind too much. Where else can you buy a Rolex, a Rolls-Royce and a McChicken sandwich before your 3am boarding call? It's basically The Ritz with baggage claim.
Unsurprisingly, though, it's beginning to feel the strain. Hemmed in by highways and residential areas, DXB has nowhere to bulge, so last April UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced that operations would slowly be phased across to Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC), located 61 kilometres to the south of DXB, when its expansion is completed in 2032.
Backed by the desert, this hyper-modern, AI-purring, mega-hub will be aviation's new darling with 400 aircraft gates (compared to the current 29) and poised to handle 260 million passengers per year once it's fully operational.
With DXB being gently nudged aside like a beloved grandparent who's just a little too slow for today's high-speed air travel, what will become of the empty site? Dubai isn't the kind of city to let nearly 3000 hectares of prime urban real estate, just a 15-minute drive from downtown, gather sand.
This is a place that built a ski slope in the desert and named islands after continents. They dream big, so something more innovative and headline-worthy is also likely. We game-planned some potential scenarios and explored how other decommissioned airports around the world have been reinvented to see where Dubai might take inspiration.
Let's taxi down the runway of possibilities.
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