Dubai International's northern runway is undergoing certification by the General Civil Aviation Authority as the final step to its reopening and returning the airport to full capacity on July 21, ending an 80-day runway refurbishment and upgrade programme.
Both of the airport's runways were closed consecutively from May 1 for refurbishment. The project involved the resurfacing of the entire 4,000-metre long northern runway as well as the upgrading of runway lighting and construction of additional taxiways and rapid exits on the southern runway. The upgrades were needed to accommodate an increasing number of aircraft as traffic at the airport continues to grow rapidly.
The rehabilitation and construction work required the use of 800,000 tonnes of aggregates, 11,000 airfield lighting luminaires, 1,050km of cabling, 1,750 new manholes and 8.3km of drainage piping.
The opening of the northern runway paves the way for the return to Dubai International of airlines – including flydubai – which temporarily operated selected flights to Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) for the duration of the refurbishment programme. Four scheduled airlines – Wizz Air, Gulf Air, Jazeera Airways and Qatar Airways – which operated at DWC before the runway closure will continue to fly from Dubai's second airport. Passengers are again advised to check with their airline which airport they will be flying from during the transition period.
"The opening of the northern runway and ramp up to a full schedule, when combined with the upcoming Eid holidays, will result in a significant surge in passenger numbers from July 21," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. "We have committed the resources and undertaken detailed planning to ensure that the transition to full two-runway operations together with the moving of flights from DWC to Dubai International is smoothly and successfully managed."
Source: WAM