H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, DWC Chairman, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates Group

Size isn’t everything, or so we are always politely led to believe. But being the best often involves being the biggest – particularly if you’re doing business in Dubai.
Yes, the emirate that broke the world records for the biggest pizza, the longest cake, the biggest biryani and the largest bowl of spaghetti, has taken the ‘size matters’ philosophy to even greater heights.

It is now fair to say that Dubai is also the proud owner of the world’s tallest hotel - the Burj Al Arab, the world’s biggest shopping mall - the Dubai Mall and the world’s highest high-rise, the Burj Dubai (although the last two are still under construction).

And if all that isn’t enough for them, the list is about to get longer, with an airport so big that it will make London’s Heathrow and Chicago’s O’Hare look like a couple of Fisher Price Play Villages.

Dubai World Central International Airport - or JXB as it is now known, will be the world’s largest airport, being the whopping size of Chicago’s O’Hare and London’s Heathrow combined.

And the proportions are truly mind-blowing. Work on the first JXB runway, due for completion in the first quarter of 2008, is well underway. The four and a half kilometer CAT III runway is designed to handle the new generation Airbus A380 aircraft and will enable JXB, and its adjacent Dubai Logistics City (DLC) to commence operations as the world’s largest freighter airport and logistics hub.

Costing a total of U.S. $8.1 billion for phase 1, JXB has been designed to handle around 120-150 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo annually. JXB and DLC are part of the US $33 billion Dubai World Central (DWC), the massive ‘city-within-a-city’ taking shape in Jebel Ali, 40 kilometers from the heart of Dubai.

But why does it all have to be so big? Is it really necessary to build to such jumbo proportions?
Apparently yes, if the small Arab state with a population of less than two million is to progress to plan, says one of its leading aviation personalities.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum knows what he’s talking about when it comes to successful business strategies. The much-admired Royal who is chairman and founder of Emirates Airlines (you’ve guessed it – the world’s fastest growing airline) is chairman of Dubai Aviation Corporation – Dubai World Central. He also heads up the new Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the aviation group that recently made the much publicized Carlyle Group Acquisition.

JXB will be home to six, four and a half kilometer runways, and six concourses, two of the six runways will be of CAT III standards, making it the world’s largest airport.

The first passenger terminal for regional and charter airlines under construction at JXB is capable of handling seven million passengers per annum. The eventual capacity of the airport will be 120-150 million passengers a year.

“Going by recent industry trends, the Middle East’s burgeoning business aviation sector will see further growth, and we need to be prepared for that,” says Sheikh Ahmed, who is also president of Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation.

In terms of state of the art facilities, he’s already prepared to be bigger and better in all areas. Dubai World Central’s first passenger terminal, cargo terminal, DLC Office Park and Headquarters, central utility complexes, fuel farms, the air traffic control tower and navigational aids and several other infrastructure facilities worth over AED 6 billion (U.S.$1.6 billion) are under construction.
It’s in one other area especially that will mark Dubai as a serious contender in the global aviation sector – the Middle East’s largest executive jet center.

The plans for the project, which were unveiled recently at the Middle East Business Aviation Exhibition at Dubai’s Airport Expo, revealed the dedicated Executive Jet Center will be among the industry’s best, competing with Van Nuys in California, Teterboro in New York, Le Bourget in France and Farnborough in the United Kingdom.

The facility will be part of JXB and is being designed as a one-stop center for the entire spectrum of business jet operations.

“The Executive Jet Center will be one of the biggest in the world in terms of expected traffic anticipated to utilize the facility and the land area allocated for this development,” explains HH Sheikh Ahmed.

“And Dubai World Central will lead the way in the region by providing world-class executive jet facilities that will rival the very best in the world,” he confirms.

“This facility will function as a one-stop center for business jet operations, including leasing and chartering of business jets, ground handling, VIP passenger handling, ground support equipment maintenance, business jet maintenance, aviation fuel, aircraft catering, flight planning, land clearances and special VIP lounges.

Sheikh Ahmed adds: “When complete the center will lead the region in terms of VIP and executive passenger handling and compete with worldwide business aviation facilities. It will be outstanding from an architectural perspective taking into account passenger comfort and privacy and, at the same time, ensuring airport security is maintained.”

Currently being designed with a handling capacity of in excess of 100,000 aircraft movements a year, the Executive Flight Center is due for completion in 2008. To include a dedicated duty-free, business center, fitness room, food outlets and crew rest areas, the Executive Flight Center will also feature a specific area for executive helicopter and heli-taxi operations.

“One of the advantages of the Executive Flight Center is that it is directly connected to a landside secured heliport which will enable VIP passengers to fly their helicopters from the center to their final destination, such as the Burj Al Arab and The World islands,” explains a senior official from Dubai World Central. “This synergy between the executive jet area and the heliport is a key factor for VIPs.”

The Executive Flight Center will also boast specific areas for maintenance, repair and overhaul and aircraft hangars.

“The master plan for the MRO area is flexible,” said the spokesperson. “A customer might lease a plot for one hangar or a series of plots attached together to accommodate a large MRO center for multiple aircraft. We will also have facilities to accommodate different aircraft sizes from single-engine Cessnas up to the Airbus A380.

“We have received enormous interest on three different fronts – light aviation, including a flying academy, corporate and business aviation both for aircraft and helicopter operations and for MRO.
“Discussions are ongoing with a number of parties and resulting initiatives will be announced in due course.”

So, the message is loud and clear – build bigger, build better and you will reap rewards, say the masterminds behind the JXB plan. And, if Dubai continues in its current growth trajectory – they could well have a point.

The sleepy little oil-funded emirate of a decade ago is barely recognizable in today’s Dubai, which boasts 12-lane highways, the world’s only seven-star hotel, and a sea-based real estate project shaped like a palm tree that can be seen clearly from space.

So the moral of the story is that things can indeed only get bigger as forecasts suggest a ten-fold population increase for Dubai over the next two decades – to a respectably sizable 11 million people – and counting.