Dubai’s aviation growth has taken another step forward with the go-ahead for plans to boost Dubai International Airport’s capacity to 90 million passengers a year by 2018.

The emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has endorsed a $ 7.8 billion expansion plan that will cover both the airport and the airspace around it, said Dubai Airports, which is responsible for both Dubai International and the giant new Al-Maktoum International near the port of Jebel Ali.

Al-Maktoum International is already open for freight flights. and passenger flights are scheduled to start there in a few months. By 2020, total passenger numbers using both airports have been estimated to reach 98.5 million.

Under existing plans, capacity at Dubai International is already due to grow to 75 million when Concourse 3 is completed by the end of 2012. Under the newly-agreed plan, additional terminal space and concourse areas amounting to 675,000m² (7,266ft²) – around twice the size of London Heathrow’s Terminal 5, according to Dubai Airports – will be created through the expansion of the existing Terminal 2 and construction of a new Concourse 4. The new concourse will be connected to Terminal 1 to ease check-in and baggage handling.

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