The next decade promises some significant and exciting developments in airport infrastructure. Plans are underway at various locations around the world to expand passenger facilities, enabling some of the world’s largest airports to handle over 100 million passengers annually.

In the first part of this blog series, we are going to focus on key airport developments taking place in the Middle East.

Gearing up for Growth 

For context, let's begin by taking a look at the Top 10 Busiest Global Airports of 2024 ranked by total airline seats - this is the number of seats filled by airlines operating from those airports, not the actual passengers handled at the airport (we’ll get to that later). This illustrates just how ‘busy’ the airports are in terms of flights operating through the airport.

Now, let’s look at passenger volume data - the number of passengers an airport actually handles. There is only one airport in the world in the exclusive 100 Million Passengers Club and that is Atlanta (ATL) in the US, handling just over 108 million passengers in 2024. Others are getting closer though, with Dubai - the 2nd Busiest Global Airport and Busiest International Airport of 2024 - handling 92.3 million passengers in 2024. This represents a 6.1% increase compared to the previous year, which is almost double the growth experienced by ATL (3.3% YoY). This indicates that if Dubai continues on this trajectory it will soon catch up with Atlanta by the end of the decade.

What is ‘passenger capacity’ and ‘passenger volume’ at airports?

The Rise of the Mega Airports

Dubai World Central (DWC)

In anticipation of continued growth and capitalising on its position as an ideal location for both passengers who want to travel through Dubai en route from east to west or vice versa, and those passengers who want to visit Dubai as a destination, Dubai has embarked on a significant investment in the expansion of Dubai World Central (DWC), Dubai’s current secondary airport.

The vision is that at some point, likely ten years from now, DWC will become Dubai’s primary airport, with traffic switching from DXB.  The upgraded and expanded DWC will ultimately provide capacity for up to 260 million passengers, with five runways, although it will be developed in a modular way as growth dictates.

Istanbul (IST)

The region already boasts one of the biggest airports in the world, located in Istanbul (IST). The new airport opened in 2018 with passenger capacity of 90 million in the first phase, and by the end of this year, it is expected to reach 120 million. By 2028, total capacity of 200 million passengers is planned.

Passenger volumes at IST reached 80 million in 2024, which was an increase of some 5.2% on the previous year, so it will not need all of its new capacity just yet - although it has ambitious targets to reach 100 million passengers by 2027. However, with an ambitious growth plan, and a base carrier offering more destinations than other Middle Eastern hubs, the airport is well placed to reach 100 million passengers in the short to medium term.

King Salman International Airport

Hot on the heels of Dubai and Istanbul is Riyadh, where the new King Salman International Airport is under construction, aiming to become one of the world’s largest airports, with the initial phase catering to 120 million passengers by 2030, and ultimately 185 million passengers by 2050. Whilst the current Riyadh Airport - King Khalid International (RUH) - handled 38 million passengers in 2024, the new enlarged Riyadh airport is a key enabler of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 transformation programme which aims to reach 330 million visitors by 2030. 

The cumulative passenger capacity for just these three ambitious hubs is an eye-watering 645 million by the end of their current timelines, some three times more than the current passenger volumes they handle. That’s before we consider Doha, Qatar’s fast-growing hub, with capacity for over 65 million passengers a year and the newly extended Zayed International Airport, in Abu Dhabi, which will cater for up to 45 million passengers. The combined total envisages a market across the biggest hubs of the Middle East of over three quarters of a billion passengers – an impressive more than doubling in size of the passenger volumes handled today at these airports.

In part two, we look east to explore how Asia’s biggest hubs plan to expand in line with growth projections.

What is ‘passenger capacity’ and ‘passenger volume’ at airports?

• Passenger capacity is the number of passengers an airport can handle.
• Passenger volume is the number of passengers an airport actually handles.