• Work on two international airports currently underway in India
  • 10 largest ME airlines ordered 795 aircraft for delivery by 2029
  • ME airports heavily investing in biometrics, AI, ML, and automation
  • Airports prioritizing sustainability in operations and practices
  • India to invest US$11 billion in airport infrastructure by 2025-end
  • Ethiopia working to have Africa’s largest airport by 2030
  • Africa needs US$32 billion for airports expansion by 2040

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: The world has kept its focus firmly fixed on the Middle East where the airlines, airports, ANSPs, and MROs are massively investing to fork out for them bigger business turnovers as the region is projected to see 300 percent increase to 1.1 billion air passengers  by 2040 when its airports will be needing US$151 billion investments for their capacity expansion. By 2029, the Middle East aviation market size is projected to reach the US$33.70 billion mark. By 2042, the global passenger traffic will reach nearly 20 billion. 

That year, 45 percent of all passengers are projected to come from the international segment, and 46 percent by 2052, according to the ACI World Airport Traffic Forecasts.  Air passenger traffic in the Africa region is likely to reach 261 million in 2025, and it will double by 2040. The global airports body says Africa’s needs exceed US$32 billion with the pace of needed new greenfield airport investment representing nearly 40 percent of this.

The regional airport upgradation, expansion, and new developments will be under the spotlight for three days at the Airport Show to be held from May 6 to  8 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), offering unparalleled networking and business opportunities for the industry players.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, the B2B platform, the largest in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region, will facilitate global companies to showcase again cutting-edge technologies and innovations designed to better airport operations and safety enhancement, improve passenger experiences and sustainability, and widen automation.

The annual multi-event airport industry platform is being supported among others by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Airports, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects, Emirates Airlines, Dubai Air Navigation Services, and dnata.  

London-based analytics company Global Data that tracks airport construction projects says 48 airport renovation, expansion, and new projects were already underway in the Arabian Gulf region, worth US$182.6 billion.

Two massive airport developments are taking place in Dubai and Saudi Arabia that will boast the airport capacities of a whopping 260 million passengers and 185 million passengers per year, respectively. Dubai has started constructing the world’s largest airport terminal, which will cost US$35 billion, with 400 gates and five parallel runways.

As it targets 300 million passengers by 2030, Saudi Arabia is also constructing the US$50-billion mega hub in Riyadh, King Salman International Airport, which it also wants to ultimately become the world’s largest airport for passenger capacity upon its completion in 2030.  These two giant projects take up almost 80 percent of spending on airport development across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).  Saudi Arabia leads the Middle East Airport construction sector with US$7.5 billion in active projects as of 2023. Kuwait follows with US$4.5 billion in active airport projects, with Iraq in third place. 

The New Abha Airport project, in Saudi Arabia, upon completion, will boast an annual capacity to handle more than 13 million passengers, nearly a tenfold increase from its current capacity of 1.5 million passengers. In Oman, Musandam Airport is being constructed for US$250 million and is expected to be ready by Q4 2026.   The Red Sea International Airport on Saudi Arabia’s west coast is projected to accommodate one million passengers annually upon full completion in 2030, with a peak capacity of 900 passengers per hour. 

In the UAE, work on the Sharjah International Airport’s terminal is expected to be completed by 2026. Bahrain is evaluating a project to develop a 40-million-passenger capacity international airport terminal that will replace its existing hub.   In Kuwait, a new triangular terminal with 28 gates is expected to increase the airport’s capacity by up to 50 million passengers per year as it will become operational in 2025/2026.  In Iraq, three major airports are expected to open by 2025.  The three-runway Beirut International Airport has plans to reach 20 million passenger capacity in 2030, according to the website of national carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA).  According to CAPA - Centre for Aviation report in August 2024, its terminal will see its capacity go up by one million passengers annually when it opens later in 2025. Egypt hopes to expand the capacity of its airport infrastructure to handle 72.2 million passengers by 2025.

In South Asia, the majority of airports are in India, the world’s most populous country.  India has presently a total of 137 airports which includes 24 international airports. Two major airport projects are in different stages of execution in India in Jewar near New Delhi and Navi Mumbai, along with up to 15 other airport projects being in the pipeline.   India, where domestic air passenger traffic is set to reach up to 300 million by 2030, will have up to 240 airports, including heliports and water aerodromes. It plans to invest US$11 billion in airport infrastructure to reach 200 operational airports by 2025-end.

In Africa, Ethiopia has started the process of having the largest airport in Africa by 2030. Morocco targets a staggering increase  in airport passenger capacity of 80 million annually by 2035 through the expansion and modernization of existing airport infrastructure. Significantly, the Middle East and Africa airport infrastructure market’s value is expected to reach US$15,308.82 million by 2030.

“The Middle East has remained one of the world’s fastest growing hubs for the civil aviation industry given its unwavering commitment to airport and airline developments and being at the new global travel crossroads. Regional airports have remained leading adaptors of new technologies given their unwavering commitment to airport and airline developments and being at the new global travel crossroads.

Over the past 23 years, the Airport Show has proved itself to be the best platform to source everything crucial that the region’s airports, now numbering 110, require.  The 24th edition of the Airport Show will continue climbing the ladder of spectacular success,” remarked May Ismail, Event Manager at RX, a global company that organizes about 400 events across 42 industry sectors in 22 countries including the Airport Show. “For the Middle East airports, the focus is not on surviving but thriving and bringing about tectonic changes to the landscape.”

It is not just the airports that are expanding and improvising.  As of 2023, the 10 largest airlines in the Middle East have collectively ordered 795 new aircraft to be delivered by the end of the decade as the global passenger traffic is expected to reach nearly 20 billion in 2042, double the 2024 projection.

In 2052, global passenger traffic is expected to reach close to 25 billion, approximately 2.5 times the 2024 projection, according to the ACI World Airport Traffic Forecasts (WATF) 2023-2052 that provides insights into the long-term airport traffic demand in over 141 countries across the globe.  By 2040, airports in the Middle East will handle 1.1 billion passengers, with the Middle East and Asia-Pacific accounting for 58 percent of global air passenger demand. IATA says the Middle East airlines earned a record US$23.1 in profit per passenger in 2024, triple the average net profit per passenger for global airlines of US$6.4 in 2024 and US$7.9 in 2023.

The Middle East airlines will end 2024 with an estimated US$5.3 billion in net profit, up from a previous forecast of US$3.8 billion, and an increase from US$3.1 billion in net profit in 2023.    Regional airlines, particularly in the Arabian Gulf, have a strong year of profitability amid continued strong demand for air travel in 2024, a push to increase international tourist arrivals, investment in airport upgrades, and government policies designed to boost the aviation sector’s contribution to the GDP.  Airlines in the Middle East are forecast to earn US$5.9 billion in net profit in 2025, with profit per passenger soaring to US$23.9, more than triple the global average of US$7 forecast in 2025.

Cirium, the world’s most popular source of aviation analytics, remarked in the latest report: “The region’s aviation industry, long a symbol of ambition and growth, is undergoing a remarkable transformation that promises to reshape the future of air travel. With a commitment to passenger experience, the Middle East is poised to set new standards for the global aviation community.” It added: “Innovation is not limited to the development of new technologies. The Middle East’s aviation industry is also pioneering new approaches to training and passenger experience. In the coming years, expect to see even more groundbreaking advancements emerging from the region.”

It added: “From the development of hydrogen-powered aircraft to the implementation of seamless, touchless travel experiences, the Middle East’s aviation industry is pushing the boundaries. The Middle East’s aviation success story is a testament to the power of vision, collaboration, and innovation. As the region continues to invest in its infrastructure and technologies, it is laying the foundation for a brighter, more sustainable future. With its eyes fixed firmly on the horizon, the Middle East is ready to take the global aviation industry to new heights.”

-Ends-

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