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Dubai International (DXB) airport, currently one of the world’s busiest, handling 100 million passengers annually, has the potential to expand its capacity to 120 million through advanced technologies and resource expansion.

At the same time, Dubai Airports has predicted that DXB’s annual passenger traffic will hit 86.8 million, surpassing pandemic levels recorded in 2019.

Dubai Airports CEO, Paul Griffiths, announced at the Dubai Airshow 2023 their plan to replace DXB airport with a larger facility to meet the growing demand.

Griffiths mentioned that the design developments for the new airport would unfold over the next few months, emphasizing a modular approach instead of traditional terminals. He noted, “We are going to need a new airport. That is going to have to happen at some stage during the 2030s,” and highlighted that the project will extend into the 2050s.

DXB airport achieved a significant milestone by recording 22.9 million passengers in Q3 2023, marking the highest quarterly traffic since 2019. The total year-to-date traffic for the first nine months reached 64.5 million passengers, signifying a notable 39.3% increase compared to the same period in 2022.