News: Qatar gets to work on $5 billion airport
Flights > News > # 85 (20/01/2005)
Qatar has launched construction of a new $5.5 billion (£2.9 billion) airport, which will be able to handle up to 60 million passengers a year by 2020.
The airport is due to be opened in 2009 and will cover a site of about 2,000 hectares (7.7 square miles).
Tourism officials claim the scale of the project illustrates the ambition of the Gulf state, which lays claim to the world's third largest reserves of gas.
Abdul Aziz al-Nuaimi, the head of the Gulf emirate's civil aviation authority, said the new airport would "set the benchmark for all future airports. It will be an international signature for the vision of Qatar".
It will include reclamation of a large area of land from the sea, the construction of two parallel runways and a passenger terminal with 25,000 square metres (270,000 square feet) of retail space, a special royal terminal, a cargo terminal with a capacity of 750,000 tonnes per annum and a free trade zone and three hotels.
The new airport will hope to serve as a rival to the region's dominant hub in Dubai.
A four-billion-dollar airport expansion project is underway in the United Arab Emirates' capital to handle annual traffic of about 30 million passengers by 2010 and more than 60 million by 2020.
© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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