THE Airport Show 2011 held in Dubai, UAE, from May 31 to June 2, concluded with announcements about huge investments towards developing airports in the region.

Amongst these were Dubai Airports’ plans to invest $5.9 billion towards expansion of Dubai and Al Maktoum airports by 2020.  Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman of Dubai World Central, said the plan will increase the capacity of Dubai airport to 90 million passengers annually from 60 million upon completion of Concourse 4, and expansion of Terminal Two. He also said that Dh4 billion ($1.08 billion) will be invested in the development of the aviation and residential cities at Al Maktoum Airport at Dubai World Central.

A leading project that took centre stage was King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) that aimed to source technology and construction materials for its estimated $11.3 billion expansion.