The world's busiest international airport is shutting down. What's next?
When Dubai International (DXB) first opened in 1960, its runway was a strip of compacted sand. Fast forward 65 years and it's the busiest international airport on the planet, processing 92.3 million passengers last year alone (when including domestic passengers, it's pipped by Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson as the world's busiest).
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
28-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
The world's busiest international airport is shutting down. What's next?
When Dubai International (DXB) first opened in 1960, its runway was a strip of compacted sand. Fast forward 65 years and it's the busiest international airport on the planet, processing 92.3 million passengers last year alone (when including domestic passengers, it's pipped by Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson as the world's busiest). 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.
The Age
28-05-2025
- The Age
The world's busiest international airport is shutting down. What's next?
When Dubai International (DXB) first opened in 1960, its runway was a strip of compacted sand. Fast forward 65 years and it's the busiest international airport on the planet, processing 92.3 million passengers last year alone (when including domestic passengers, it's pipped by Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson as the world's busiest). 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.
The Age
22-05-2025
- The Age
Party tourists ruined Mykonos. Now they're heading for another island
I visited Paros for the first time in the late 1980s. Stepping off the rusted ferry into bright sunshine in Paroikia's (then) tiny port felt like arriving in paradise – albeit a backpacker's paradise – and my days there were filled with long lazy meals outside bougainvillea-shaded, family-run fish tavernas in the tiny village of Naoussa, and afternoons at Piso Livadi's traditional kafenions (cafes) and golden beaches, where I'd often have the sands almost entirely to myself. Forty years later, around half a million people flock to Paros every summer, which – on a small island with just 12,000 residents – means today's visitors are unlikely to have more than a scrap of sand to themselves, let alone a whole beach. It was, until recently, still the 'the chilled alternative to Mykonos' – as it was dubbed in a Vogue article – and the preserve of a handful of celebrities (amongst them Tom Hanks and his Greek wife, Rita Wilson, who have a house on the satellite island of Antiparos), drawn by hyper-exclusive hideaways like The Moonhouse, and a lack of prying eyes. But as is so often the way, the masses soon followed. Once renowned for its fine white marble, the island is now increasingly associated with glitzy beach clubs, gourmet restaurants and hip hotels, and resources are under strain. 'Rising costs for locals are a huge concern,' ceramic artist and long-time island resident Christiane Smit told me, while a recent LinkedIn post from former MEP and environmentalist Kriton Arsenis reported that, in the past five years alone, Paros has topped the demand for new building permits in the Cyclades, surpassing even Mykonos and Santorini, and 'been overbuilt at a dramatic pace'. 'You see it in the crowded streets, the traffic jams, the way people seem stressed,' explained Nikos Botsinis of Santorini Walking Tours, who moved to the island several years ago seeking a more authentic way of life. 'Both locals and the environment can feel the immense pressure of the tourism 'development'. But those in power are celebrating the 'success' of their decisions, turning a blind eye to the tsunami of issues that is approaching rapidly.' Increasingly frustrated with seemingly out-of-control development on the island, residents of Naoussa sent a petition to government representatives in 2022 asking them to put a halt to rampant building in the tiny resort, describing it as 'a severe test of all the fragile infrastructure of a small place'. In 2023, locals came together to create the Paros Citizens' Movement for Free Beaches – dubbed the 'Greek beach-towel movement' by foreign press – to protest what they describe as the 'illegal privatisation' of beaches in Greece. 'The law says no beach is private, yet there were huge swathes of beach covered by sunloungers and parasols rented for up to €100 ($A176) per day, and we couldn't afford to use those areas,' one protester fumed.
