By Aubrey Chang www.industryleadersmagazine.com
Aviation seems to be the key to improving the economy, and Dubai is no exception.
The city in the United Arab Emirates has plenty of things going on with its logistics and aviation industry, propelling it to be a global logistics and aviation hub in short time.
Dubai to build World’s Biggest Airport
As if Dubai’s first airport, Dubai International Airport, wasn’t enough, the city is in the process of building a second airport, which is planned to be the biggest one in the world.
This new airport, Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International in the southern part of the city, will ultimately be able to handle 160 million passengers a year by 2035.
This new logistics and aviation hub, which is part of Dubai World Central – a planned residential, commercial and logistics and aviation super complex – opened last June to cargo flights. Dubai World Central is expanding in phases and will eventually have at least five runways, set to become a global logistics and aviation hub – catering not just for cargo but connecting vast numbers of passengers travelling on East-West routes.
Current UAE aviation and logistics doing just fine
The UAE aviation industry already works with the some of the biggest aerospace companies, and its current airport is currently seeing increases in both aviation and logistics traffic. In July, a record 4.7 million people travelled through the airport, marking an almost 10 percent rise over July 2010.
In September, Dubai Duty Free declared that its sales had topped $1 billion since the beginning of the year and could reach almost $1.5 billion by the end of the year. Resident carrier Emirates has ordered $18 billion worth of Boeing 777 aircraft, whilst signing options for a further $8 billion worth of planes. Qatar and Etihad, two other regional carriers, are expected to place multi-billion dollar aircraft orders of their own. More info
