Hello, dear readers, again!
Before starting, i would like to ask all my readers - please leave your comments on what you think about this blog! Your opinion is important for me, and also if you find any other clever ways of expansion for both, Heathrow and Dubai Airports, or anything other interesting facts, then please write your thoughts on the comments. I will consider everyone's suggestions, and I will even be happy to reply to you,
At Part 1 I have introduced fully about myself, and also written about the expansion problem for Heathrow Airport, and how could UK government simply solve that problem by buillding an another airport nearby London on the Thames river.
In here, at part 2 I would like to summarize the capacity problems at Dubai Airport.
So let's start, shall we?
Part 2 : Dubai International Airport.
What is problematic about Dubai Airport's capacity?
Before starting, i would like to ask all my readers - please leave your comments on what you think about this blog! Your opinion is important for me, and also if you find any other clever ways of expansion for both, Heathrow and Dubai Airports, or anything other interesting facts, then please write your thoughts on the comments. I will consider everyone's suggestions, and I will even be happy to reply to you,
At Part 1 I have introduced fully about myself, and also written about the expansion problem for Heathrow Airport, and how could UK government simply solve that problem by buillding an another airport nearby London on the Thames river.
In here, at part 2 I would like to summarize the capacity problems at Dubai Airport.
So let's start, shall we?
Part 2 : Dubai International Airport.
What is problematic about Dubai Airport's capacity?
The
main thing which threatens UAE’s busiest airport is its
quick growth.
In 2014, the airport served 70,5 million passengers, while in 1994, it served just
6,3 million passengers! Even
in 2004, the number of passengers passed throughout the year was only 21,7
million. The passenger
traffic in 2014 didn’t grow much because of the 80-day Dubai Airport’s
runway
extension. At that period the number of flights was decreased. So what will happen in 2024? How many passengers will pass in that year? Can we predict? Yes. It will definitely be over 100 million passengers, if the crisis won't hit Dubai. If it does, then, I don't think that the number of passengers will decrease, it is most likely just to grow slowly, or about 2-4% per year.
Dubai International Airport : capacity
If we count up all terminals' capacity, then the total capacity will be 93 million passengers per year, including the new concourse D which is expected to open in the next 4 months. But Dubai Airport is already reached 70,5 million passengers in 2014, and the number of passengers in 2015 should reach over 75 million, which means that the number of passengers passing throughout the year in 3-4 years will definitely reach over 93 million.
Dubai Airport's Terminal 3
What about starting making Al-Maktoum bigger? Some facts about the airport.
Al-Maktoum
Airport, is located 37 kilometers southwest from Dubai. Airport has a good
location to expand and to make itself the busiest airport in the world, but when
shall they start doing this? In 5 years? In 10 years? Hmmm... as quick as possible... (sorry guys if I am being wrong, I don't know whether the government either started or not building another terminals at Al-Maktoum, but if they didn't yet, then it's just sort of an encouragement for them and for other people also:) )
Also, if the UAE government decides to start construction of a big terminal and some runways with a capacity of, for example, 60 million passengers - then this construction will take no less than 4 years. If they want to just build a medium-sized terminal for now which probably will have a capacity of 30 million passengers, then I think that it shall take no more than 2,5 - 3 years.
So here are some facts about Al-Maktoum Airport :
- Al-Maktoum already serves some flights, e.g. Qatar Airways, Gulf Air, Wizz Air, and other airlines.
- Al-Maktoum also already operates for many cargo flights.
- For now, there is a lot of space for Al-Maktoum to expand. Nearly thrice of its already size.
Though you can build an airport anywhere!
It is a good benefit to UAE that it has a plenty of space to build as much airports as they want to. In the deserts, if the government wants to, they can even build an airport with a runway 20,000 meters long. But of course, construction takes time. It could take from 3 years up to 10 years, it depends on the size of the airport that they want to build. Dubai can have 3 airports in use - Dubai International in future as for regional flights, Al-Maktoum as a world central airport, and probably another airport in the desert south from Dubai for low-cost carriers such as FlyDubai and others. But the main benefit which flydubai gets is the number of transit passengers. I should not guess, but probably I think that half of total Dubai Airport's passenger traffic including flyDubai's is for transit passengers, especially for the travelers from Europe to South and Southeast Asia or the other way. In this case , for example, having a low cost airport and separately Al-Maktoum, is problematic because transit passengers have to get a visa so that they can enter UAE to get to the other airport. But they can solve in two easy simple steps - 1st is making a UAE non-visa for transit - for 24 hours, no more is required, and 2nd is creating a good transportation ability from Al-Maktoum to that low-cost airport. Also there is a benefit - airport will be located far away from Dubai, and that's good for low-cost carriers.
Benefits of building a low-cost airport
Sometimes, tourists travelling to UAE stumble with the expensive cost of trip to Dubai. So the best option for them is to book a flight with a low-cost airline, so that at least they can save money for tickets. It is also good for transit passengers - they can get a quite cheap flight to their destination via Dubai. In case, if we build a low-cost airport, FlyDubai could have a base there with the other airlines like Wizz Air, Ryanair, Easyjet, and others operating flights there. What about naming? The airport can be named after any famous UAE Sheikhs or other important peoples who have done a lot for UAE to thrive. For example, it could be named after Sheikh Zayed after all. Airport could be located 50km south from Dubai in the deserts, quite not far away from Al-Maktoum. UAE Government could arrange a non-stop express train between Al-Maktoum and planned low-cost airport, the journey in which will take as fast as 15-25 minutes.
"Why there is such a big growth?"
Asking this question, towards Dubai, would be a bit foolish, if you don't know yet that Dubai has a big "boom" of constructions of buildings and there is a plan of making Dubai as a big financial and economical center since 1990s. But I think that most of the buildings and roads were started constructing in the early and mid-2000s. Since then, Dubai Airport plays an important role and is not only for passengers travelling to/from Dubai, but also at that time there was started developing flights for transit passengers, so now passengers could use Dubai Airport as a flight connection airport.
Flashback : Dubai in 1990s , and in 2008.
Heavy planes - usual for Dubai Airport!
Especially with Emirates airline. Emirates has 65 Airbus A380 planes in their fleet, and has another 75 in order, so it is the largest operator of that aircraft type in the world. Do you know how does the A380 look like? It is the biggest passenger jet in the world. Emirates is a very surprising airline in case of operating their A380 most often comparing to any other airline, obviously because of the number of those plane types in their fleet.
Also, there is a special terminal at Dubai Airport, concourse A, designated especially for Airbus A380 aircraft. Obviously , Al-Maktoum needs also that kind of terminal, and even bigger, if all flights of Emirates are decided to move there.
Concourse A is connected to Terminal 3, which handles only flights of Emirates and Qantas.
Comparison of Dubai Airport and Heathrow : both have two runways, but how we could say that traffic at Dubai Airport is a bit easier than at Heathrow? Let's have a look.
Dubai Airport and Heathrow Airport both have two runways. In 2014, Heathrow served totally 73,4 million passengers, Dubai, however, served only 70,47 million. But still, that's close, right? If not in 2015, then in 2016 Dubai definitely will overtake Heathrow by the number of passengers annually. Dubai served 70,4 million passengers in 2014 because of the reconstruction of a runway during summer (Dubai Airport runway maintenance project), which took about 90 days, I think. During that time, a number of flights either decreased, or transferred to Al-Maktoum or Sharjah temporarily. If it wasn't the maintenance project, then I am assuming that Dubai would serve about 71,5 - 72,8 million passengers last year.
Aircraft types
Heathrow accepts not only flights from far away, but plenty from the Europe. The aircraft used for flying to/from Europe to Heathrow is usually Boeing 737/Airbus A320.
Dubai Airport accepts mostly wide-body jets, because Emirates has only wide-body jets in their fleet, and also other airlines mostly operate wide-body jets to Dubai.
Thus, if we sum up all this, then what do we get? I think that Heathrow's traffic is heavier in terms of aircraft movements than in Dubai more (percentage) (2014 statistics) than the percentage difference of Dubai Airport's and Heathrow's passenger traffic in 2014. It is because Heathrow accepts smaller jets more often than Dubai is. That's also the reason for why when you land in Dubai you don't actually make circles around the airport, so the traffic is easier in here.
24 hours of flights departing and arriving per day
That's a big reason for why Dubai Airport's traffic is not so big as Heathrow's is. Dubai Airport works 24 hours per day, and the busiest time there is night time. In contrast, Heathrow opens for arrivals at around 5am, and closes down for the night after the last flight departs at 10:50pm. So as we see, Heathrow "sleeps" at night for 6 hours.
Deficit of runways problem is already covers Dubai Airport, but it will be as worse as in Heathrow in the next 5 years!
As we already know, Dubai Airport has a little bit less problem about deficit of runways than Heathrow, because the capacity of planes which land and depart from Dubai is bigger than at Heathrow, and Dubai works non-stop while Heathrow doesn't accept any flights between 11pm and 5am, and even if there is an emergency situation, I believe so.
But we also know that Dubai's passenger traffic grows more rapidly than Heathrow's, and you know, the traffic growth doesn't "care" at Dubai. It will continue to grow in big temps, even if there is no space for that amount of passengers. But this is not an excuse for not expanding the capacity. Probably in 5 years, in 2020, planes would have to make several circles around Dubai before landing, or planes which are departing, have to wait for a 30-50-minute queue for the runway. But this won't happen, if there will be no deficit of runways, right? So the only way to do this is to build some more runways and terminals at Al-Maktoum, or at least to build a new airport in the deserts so that all Flydubai flights could move there.
Dubai International Airport at night
Saudia Airbus A330 landing in Dubai
British Airways and Emirates Boeing 777s at Dubai Airport.
Ok guys, that's it for now. All my suggestions for Dubai and Heathrow are provisional, and I might be a little bit wrong in something.
Thank you guys for reading, and please leave your comments! Your opinion is important also!
Though you can build an airport anywhere!
It is a good benefit to UAE that it has a plenty of space to build as much airports as they want to. In the deserts, if the government wants to, they can even build an airport with a runway 20,000 meters long. But of course, construction takes time. It could take from 3 years up to 10 years, it depends on the size of the airport that they want to build. Dubai can have 3 airports in use - Dubai International in future as for regional flights, Al-Maktoum as a world central airport, and probably another airport in the desert south from Dubai for low-cost carriers such as FlyDubai and others. But the main benefit which flydubai gets is the number of transit passengers. I should not guess, but probably I think that half of total Dubai Airport's passenger traffic including flyDubai's is for transit passengers, especially for the travelers from Europe to South and Southeast Asia or the other way. In this case , for example, having a low cost airport and separately Al-Maktoum, is problematic because transit passengers have to get a visa so that they can enter UAE to get to the other airport. But they can solve in two easy simple steps - 1st is making a UAE non-visa for transit - for 24 hours, no more is required, and 2nd is creating a good transportation ability from Al-Maktoum to that low-cost airport. Also there is a benefit - airport will be located far away from Dubai, and that's good for low-cost carriers.
Benefits of building a low-cost airport
Sometimes, tourists travelling to UAE stumble with the expensive cost of trip to Dubai. So the best option for them is to book a flight with a low-cost airline, so that at least they can save money for tickets. It is also good for transit passengers - they can get a quite cheap flight to their destination via Dubai. In case, if we build a low-cost airport, FlyDubai could have a base there with the other airlines like Wizz Air, Ryanair, Easyjet, and others operating flights there. What about naming? The airport can be named after any famous UAE Sheikhs or other important peoples who have done a lot for UAE to thrive. For example, it could be named after Sheikh Zayed after all. Airport could be located 50km south from Dubai in the deserts, quite not far away from Al-Maktoum. UAE Government could arrange a non-stop express train between Al-Maktoum and planned low-cost airport, the journey in which will take as fast as 15-25 minutes.
"Why there is such a big growth?"
Asking this question, towards Dubai, would be a bit foolish, if you don't know yet that Dubai has a big "boom" of constructions of buildings and there is a plan of making Dubai as a big financial and economical center since 1990s. But I think that most of the buildings and roads were started constructing in the early and mid-2000s. Since then, Dubai Airport plays an important role and is not only for passengers travelling to/from Dubai, but also at that time there was started developing flights for transit passengers, so now passengers could use Dubai Airport as a flight connection airport.
Flashback : Dubai in 1990s , and in 2008.
Heavy planes - usual for Dubai Airport!
Especially with Emirates airline. Emirates has 65 Airbus A380 planes in their fleet, and has another 75 in order, so it is the largest operator of that aircraft type in the world. Do you know how does the A380 look like? It is the biggest passenger jet in the world. Emirates is a very surprising airline in case of operating their A380 most often comparing to any other airline, obviously because of the number of those plane types in their fleet.
Also, there is a special terminal at Dubai Airport, concourse A, designated especially for Airbus A380 aircraft. Obviously , Al-Maktoum needs also that kind of terminal, and even bigger, if all flights of Emirates are decided to move there.
Concourse A is connected to Terminal 3, which handles only flights of Emirates and Qantas.
Comparison of Dubai Airport and Heathrow : both have two runways, but how we could say that traffic at Dubai Airport is a bit easier than at Heathrow? Let's have a look.
Dubai Airport and Heathrow Airport both have two runways. In 2014, Heathrow served totally 73,4 million passengers, Dubai, however, served only 70,47 million. But still, that's close, right? If not in 2015, then in 2016 Dubai definitely will overtake Heathrow by the number of passengers annually. Dubai served 70,4 million passengers in 2014 because of the reconstruction of a runway during summer (Dubai Airport runway maintenance project), which took about 90 days, I think. During that time, a number of flights either decreased, or transferred to Al-Maktoum or Sharjah temporarily. If it wasn't the maintenance project, then I am assuming that Dubai would serve about 71,5 - 72,8 million passengers last year.
Aircraft types
Heathrow accepts not only flights from far away, but plenty from the Europe. The aircraft used for flying to/from Europe to Heathrow is usually Boeing 737/Airbus A320.
Dubai Airport accepts mostly wide-body jets, because Emirates has only wide-body jets in their fleet, and also other airlines mostly operate wide-body jets to Dubai.
Thus, if we sum up all this, then what do we get? I think that Heathrow's traffic is heavier in terms of aircraft movements than in Dubai more (percentage) (2014 statistics) than the percentage difference of Dubai Airport's and Heathrow's passenger traffic in 2014. It is because Heathrow accepts smaller jets more often than Dubai is. That's also the reason for why when you land in Dubai you don't actually make circles around the airport, so the traffic is easier in here.
24 hours of flights departing and arriving per day
That's a big reason for why Dubai Airport's traffic is not so big as Heathrow's is. Dubai Airport works 24 hours per day, and the busiest time there is night time. In contrast, Heathrow opens for arrivals at around 5am, and closes down for the night after the last flight departs at 10:50pm. So as we see, Heathrow "sleeps" at night for 6 hours.
Deficit of runways problem is already covers Dubai Airport, but it will be as worse as in Heathrow in the next 5 years!
As we already know, Dubai Airport has a little bit less problem about deficit of runways than Heathrow, because the capacity of planes which land and depart from Dubai is bigger than at Heathrow, and Dubai works non-stop while Heathrow doesn't accept any flights between 11pm and 5am, and even if there is an emergency situation, I believe so.
But we also know that Dubai's passenger traffic grows more rapidly than Heathrow's, and you know, the traffic growth doesn't "care" at Dubai. It will continue to grow in big temps, even if there is no space for that amount of passengers. But this is not an excuse for not expanding the capacity. Probably in 5 years, in 2020, planes would have to make several circles around Dubai before landing, or planes which are departing, have to wait for a 30-50-minute queue for the runway. But this won't happen, if there will be no deficit of runways, right? So the only way to do this is to build some more runways and terminals at Al-Maktoum, or at least to build a new airport in the deserts so that all Flydubai flights could move there.
Ok guys, that's it for now. All my suggestions for Dubai and Heathrow are provisional, and I might be a little bit wrong in something.
Thank you guys for reading, and please leave your comments! Your opinion is important also!
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