The expansion of Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) — set to become the world’s largest — hit major milestones in June 2026: more than 17,000 concrete piles laid, over 45 million cubic metres excavated, and the second runway completed.
The scale
Around AED 13 billion of contracts are currently executing, with AED 55 billion-plus in strategic contracts due to be awarded in the coming months. The workforce is set to scale from 9,000 toward roughly 120,000 at peak. The end-state — five runways, two terminals, seven concourses and capacity for 260 million-plus passengers a year — has Phase 1 opening in 2032.
The off-plan thesis
Every off-plan community across Dubai’s southern corridor — Dubai South, Emaar South, Jebel Ali Village and Palm Jebel Ali — is underwritten by this airport. Infrastructure of this magnitude reshapes where a city lives and works, and it typically lifts nearby residential values over the long horizon. Visible construction progress strengthens that thesis: this is no longer a promise on a masterplan, it’s cranes in the ground.
Browse off-plan projects in Emaar South and Jebel Ali Village.
Source: Dubai Media Office and UAE press, June 2026. Presented by OffPlans.com.
