Dubai's new Al-Maktoum International Airport is to open in three months' time, although it will initially handle only freight operations.
Al-Maktoum Airport is scheduled to open for cargo flights on 27 June, says operator Dubai Airports. No fixed date has been given for the first passenger services at the new hub.
Postponement of the opening led low-cost carrier FlyDubai - which had planned to use Al-Maktoum - to begin services from Dubai International Airport instead last year.
Dubai's main carrier, Emirates, has also confirmed that it is unlikely to transfer to Al-Maktoum within the next decade - and possibly not until 2022 at the earliest - because the current hub will be able to support its operation for several years to come.
Introduction of the new Concourse 3 at Dubai International, to handle Airbus A380s, will take its annual capacity to 75 million passengers by 2012.
Last November the airport operator said it expected the Dubai airports system to be handling 95 million passengers by the end of the decade.
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Al-Maktoum International Airport is part of the vast $32 billion Dubai World Central business project. The first phase of the airport will include a single runway and a passenger terminal with capacity for 5 million, plus s 92m (302ft) control tower.
Once complete it will have up to four passenger terminals capable of dealing with 160 million passengers, plus five runways and cargo facilities with capacity for 12 million tonnes of freight.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
