Al Maktoum International Airport expansion and the areas around it (2026)

The Al Maktoum International Airport expansion is Dubai's plan to turn DWC, its second airport, into its main one. On 28 April 2024 Dubai approved the designs and the start of work on a new passenger terminal costing AED 128 billion, and said that all operations at Dubai International (DXB) will move there in the coming years.

The airport already exists. Dubai Airports says cargo flights began at Al Maktoum International on 27 June 2010 and passenger flights on 27 October 2013, and the existing terminal handles charter, some scheduled flights, cargo and business aviation. The expansion builds a much larger airport around it.

This guide sets out the plan as Dubai Media Office, Dubai Airports and WAM have announced it, and then the communities around the airport. Daily life in the district itself, with its schools, shops and transport, is covered in our guide to living in Dubai South. See all projects and prices on our Dubai South page.

At full build-out the airport is planned for more than 260 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo a year, on a site of 70 sq km. The Dubai Media Office described it in 2024 as five times the size of Dubai International and the largest airport in the world when fully operational.

The June 2026 update set out the finished layout: five independently operating parallel runways, two passenger terminals, seven concourses and more than 430 aircraft stands. An automated people mover will carry passengers inside the airport, and the plan includes links to air, rail and road networks.

For comparison, Dubai Airports said in September 2026 that DXB's maximum capacity is around 115 million passengers a year. The first phase at DWC, at 150 million, is designed to take Dubai past that ceiling.

Dubai Airports also said the airport will be built around eight nodes of about 32 million passengers each, with infrastructure added as demand grows. That is why the first phase and the full airport are described separately.

Operations at the new airport are scheduled to begin in 2032. The Dubai Media Office said in June 2026 that the project remains on course to start operations that year, in line with its long-term master plan.

The other official statements frame the same target slightly differently. The April 2024 announcement said the first phase would be ready within ten years. A November 2025 release spoke of the initial development coming online in the early 2030s, and Dubai Airports used the same words in September 2026.

Will DXB close? Dubai has said all of DXB's operations will move to DWC. Dubai Airports said in September 2026 that the transition will be phased as capacity becomes available, with DXB operations moving once DWC's initial 150 million passenger capacity is ready. No closing date for DXB has been set.

By June 2026 the project had moved into large-scale construction. The Dubai Media Office listed these milestones:

• Enabling works and foundations. More than 17,000 concrete piles installed and more than 45 million cubic metres excavated, with initial structural foundations for the passenger terminals and gates.
• Runways. The second runway was completed, in preparation for rehabilitating the existing runway. Dubai Airports said in September 2026 that the second runway opens by the end of 2027.
• Concrete. The core infrastructure package uses about 4.5 million cubic metres of concrete.
• People. More than 10 million work hours in the previous 15 months, with about 9,000 workers on site, rising to about 120,000 at peak.

Contracts. More than AED 13 billion of packages were under execution in June 2026, and more than AED 55 billion of packages were being prepared for award by the end of the year. The Media Office listed them: the Western Passenger Terminal substructure and superstructure, the fourth concourse, the automated people mover, the baggage handling system, the superstructure of concourses 1 to 3, about 1.5 million sq m of long-span structures, the southern airfield, and power and district cooling plants.

A November 2025 release described the whole expansion as a US$35 billion project, delivered by Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects as master developer.

The airport is the anchor of Dubai South, a district planned as a city around an airport. When it approved the terminal, the Dubai Media Office said demand for housing for one million people is expected to follow in Dubai South, and that the district has been operating since 2007.

That is the reason so many launches cluster here. In the third quarter of 2026, Dubai South was the area with the most off-plan sales registered with the Dubai Land Department, according to our analysis of Dubai Land Department registered sales.

What the airport means for any one home is a separate question. No official body has published a forecast of prices or rents around DWC, and neither do we. What you can check is concrete: how far the home is from the airport and from your work, when the roads and transit near it are due, and when the building itself hands over.

The airport also fits the wider city plan. The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan names Expo 2020 and its surroundings as one of five urban centres, and plans for Dubai's population to reach 5.8 million by 2040.

The airport sits inside Dubai South, with Expo City Dubai and Dubai Investments Park to its north and Jebel Ali to its north-west. The distances below are straight lines from the airport's mapped location, rounded to the nearest kilometre. Road distances are longer, and drive times vary with traffic.

Dubai South

Dubai South is the master development the airport belongs to, and the closest place to live. It is several neighbourhoods rather than one: the Residential District, HAYAT, Emaar South, South Square and others, each with its own developer and stage of completion. Homes run from apartments to villas, many still off-plan.

Our living in Dubai South guide covers each neighbourhood, the bus and Metro links, schools and service charges, so it is not repeated here. If you are choosing between the airport side of the city and the communities further north-east, see Dubai South vs Dubailand.

Emaar South

Emaar South is Emaar's golf-course community within Dubai South, about 6 km from the airport by our measurement. Emaar quotes about 5 minutes from Emaar South to the airport, 25 minutes to Dubai Marina and 35 minutes to Downtown Dubai, off-peak. Its townhouses and apartments are covered in living in Emaar South.

Expo City Dubai

Expo City Dubai is the former Expo 2020 site, about 7 km north of the airport. The Dubai 2040 plan names Expo 2020 and its surroundings as an urban centre, and a new master plan for Expo City was approved in October 2024. It has the Metro's Expo 2020 station, at the end of the Route 2020 branch, which makes it the airport-side community with rail today.

Homes are sold by Expo City Dubai itself, in Expo Valley and on the main site. See living in Expo City Dubai.

Dubai Investments Park

Dubai Investments Park is a mixed business, industrial and residential district about 8 km north-east of the airport, with its own Metro station on Route 2020. It has some of the closest established schools and hospital care to the airport. See living in Dubai Investments Park.

Jebel Ali, Al Furjan and Jumeirah Golf Estates

North of Expo City are the older communities on the Route 2020 Metro branch and the Etihad Rail line. Al Furjan and Jebel Ali's port and free zone are about 14 km from the airport. Jumeirah Golf Estates, at about 12 km, has the Etihad Rail Dubai station at Al Yalayis, with a bridge to the Red Line.

These are established places to live, with ready homes and resales alongside new launches. See living in Al Furjan, Jebel Ali Village and our guide to the Etihad Rail passenger service.

Palm Jebel Ali and the coast

Palm Jebel Ali, about 17 km away, is Nakheel's island off the Jebel Ali coast, relaunched with a new master plan in 2023. It is the closest beachfront community to the airport. See living in Palm Jebel Ali.

By road. The airport sits between Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (E311) and Emirates Road (E611), with Expo Road (E77) running past Dubai South. There is no Metro station at the airport.

Metro. The nearest station is Expo 2020, at the end of the Red Line's Route 2020 branch inside Expo City Dubai. RTA's Route 2020 branch is 15 km long with seven stations. From there, buses serve Dubai South; our Dubai South guide lists the route.

Rail. Etihad Rail's Dubai passenger station is at Al Yalayis in Jumeirah Golf Estates. It links Dubai with Abu Dhabi, Sharjah's Al Dhaid and Fujairah.

What is planned. The approved airport design includes an integrated landside hub linking roads, the Metro and air transport, and the June 2026 update refers to multimodal links to air, rail and road networks. No route or opening date for a Metro or rail link to the new terminal has been announced, so treat any such link as a plan until it is dated.

The table below lists the off-plan projects we track in Dubai South, the district around the airport, with the lowest published starting price first. It updates as we add or revise projects.

For the neighbours, see the project lists on our Expo Valley, Emaar South, Dubai Investments Park, Al Furjan and Downtown Jebel Ali pages. To compare by budget, try homes under AED 1 million or AED 1 to 2 million; for houses, see villas in Dubai and townhouses in Dubai.

Buy the home on its own merits, with the airport as context. These checks apply to any project in the area.

1. The handover date and the project's progress. Look up the project on the Dubai Land Department's Project Status service in the Dubai REST app, which shows certified completion. Our guide to checking an off-plan project and developer explains how.
2. Your own timeline against the airport's. A home handing over in 2027 will be lived in for years before DWC's first phase opens in 2032. Ask yourself whether the area works for you as it is today.
3. Distance to where you work. Measure from the actual building, not the master plan. Dubai South's neighbourhoods are kilometres apart.
4. Flight paths and noise. Ask the developer where the building sits relative to the runways and approach paths, and visit at different times of day.
5. Transport that exists versus transport that is planned. The Expo 2020 Metro station and Etihad Rail's Dubai station are open; links to the new terminal are not yet dated.
6. Service charges. For completed buildings nearby, check the Dubai Land Department's Service Charge Index. Our service charges guide shows how.
7. Freehold status and registration. Dubai South, Emaar South, Expo City and the Jebel Ali communities listed here are freehold. Your purchase is registered on Oqood, then a title deed at handover.
8. The payment plan. Many projects here sell on plans that run past handover. Compare them on our post-handover payment plans page and with the payment plan calculator.

• Daily life in the airport district: living in Dubai South.
• The city plan behind it: the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan.
• The other new districts: new areas in Dubai.
• All projects and prices: Dubai South, and every launch on new launches.