The world's tallest tower, largest mall, longest bridge - it has them all or will soon. The new airport complex, under construction about 25 miles southwest of old Dubai, is no exception.

At 54 square miles, the land set aside 30 years ago by Sheik Rashid bin Saeed al-Maktoum, then Dubai's ruler, for the $33 billion project is almost twice the size of the island of Hong Kong. The heart of this new city, known as Dubai World Central, will be al-Maktoum International Airport. Upon completion, it will be the world's largest airport, bigger than London's Heathrow and Chicago's O'Hare combined.

Whole new concept

"It's not just an airport; it's a whole new concept," Abdulla Ahmed al-Qurashi, head of Dubai World Central's aviation division, said in an interview.

The $10 billion airport will have two huge terminals, six concourses, six parallel runways and a smaller terminal for low-cost and regional airlines. The terminals and concourses will be linked by a light-rail system.

The airport will eventually have an annual capacity of about 120 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo. London's Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, handles about 68 million passengers annually. Memphis, Tenn., and Hong Kong, the world's biggest cargo hubs, handle about 4.5 million tons of cargo each annually.

Although al-Maktoum won't be in full operation until 2015, parts of the project are under way. The first runway, aerial control tower and fuel tanks are finished, and the first passenger flight is expected next year. A terminal that will be home to Dubai's new budget carrier should be ready in the third quarter of 2009.

The new airport is essential for Dubai to deal with a predicted surge in air travel, executives say.

The International Air Transport Association forecasts that the number of passengers in the Middle East will grow 6.8 percent a year until 2011. European aircraft maker Airbus predicts that passenger traffic in the region will increase 8.1 percent a year until 2016. Worldwide, growth is now 5.4 percent.

At its heart, the airport is more than an aviation project.

It will "not only impact future airports around the world, but also regional economic development," Dubai World Central Executive Chairman Khalifa al-Zaffin said at the Future Airports Congress in Dubai last month.

Industry analysts agreed that the region approaches its airports differently from other countries.
"The development and financing of airports in the Gulf does not follow the same pattern as airports in the rest of the world. In Dubai, for instance, we're talking about a wider economic development plan of which the airport is an essential part," said Christopher Preece, managing director of United Kingdom-based Falcon Consultancy.

The issues confronting workers, planners and engineers are exotic. The runways must be fenced off to prevent camels and antelope from crossing them at night. An indigenous ghaf tree, which has stood undisturbed in the middle of the desert for 200 years, is in the middle of a construction site. Its longevity is such a rare occurrence in this harsh climate that the tree has been uprooted and moved to a conservation park. Desert wildlife, mainly of birds, snakes and rabbits, will be relocated.

A chemical will have to be sprayed onto the sand to prevent it from scattering and hampering visibility on takeoff and landing.