Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) has received bids from firms for a contract to deliver the automated people-mover system as part of the first phase of the expansion of Al-Maktoum International airport.

MEED understands bids for the package were submitted in July.

The bidders are understood to include:

• Alstom (France)
• CRRC (China)
• Hitachi (Japan)
• Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)

The automated people-mover system will serve as a critical facility for operations at Al-Maktoum International airport. The system will run under the apron of the entire airfield and the airport’s terminals. It will consist of multiple tracks, taking passengers from the terminals to the concourses.

Four underground stations will be built as part of the first phase. The overall plan includes 14 stations across the airport.

The airport’s construction is planned to be undertaken in three phases. It will cover an area of 70 square kilometres south of Dubai and have five parallel runways, five terminal buildings and 400 aircraft gates.

It will be five times the size of the existing Dubai International airport and have the world’s largest passenger-handling capacity of 260 million passengers a year. For cargo, it will have the capacity to handle 12 million tonnes a year.

Construction on the first phase has already begun. In May, MEED exclusively reported that DAEP had awarded an AED1bn ($272m) deal to the local Binladin Contracting Group to construct the second runway at the airport.

The enabling works on the terminal are also ongoing and are being undertaken by Abu Dhabi-based Tristar E&C.

While speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Airport Show in May, Khalifa Al-Zaffin, executive chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation, said the government would award more packages this year, including the automated people-mover and baggage handling system.

“Several other packages are expected to be tendered this year, including the terminal substructure, 132kV substations and district cooling plants,” Al-Zaffin added.

The construction works on the project’s first phase are expected to be completed by 2032.

The government approved the updated designs and timelines for its largest construction project in April last year. It said the plan is for all operations from Dubai International airport to be transferred to Al-Maktoum airport within 10 years.

The government statement added that the project will create housing demand for 1 million people around the airport.

In September last year, MEED exclusively reported that a team comprising Austria’s Coop Himmelb(l)au and Lebanon’s Dar Al-Handasah had been confirmed as the lead masterplanning and design consultants on the expansion of the Al-Maktoum airport.

Project history

The expansion of the airport is a long-standing project. Also known as Dubai World Central (DWC), it was officially launched in 2014, with a different design from the one approved in April 2024. Back then, it involved building the biggest airport in the world by 2050, with the capacity to handle 255 million passengers a year.

An initial phase, due to be completed in 2030, involved increasing the airport’s capacity to 130 million passengers a year. The development was to cover an area of 56 square km.

Progress on the project slipped as the region grappled with the impact of lower oil prices and Dubai focused on developing the Expo 2020 site. Tendering for work on the project then stalled with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.