New Qatari Airport Construction on Track

October 26, 2009 12:14 p.m. EST

The new international airport currently under construction outside the Qatari capital Doha is expecting 24 million passengers to pass through in each of its first few years of operation, despite the population of Qatar being less than one million.

The new airport is set to receive its first passengers in July 2011, Qatar Civil Aviation Authority Chairman and Managing Director Abdul Aziz al-Noaimi told a business conference in Qatar.

The airport, built at an estimated cost of $14 billion, will serve as the new hub for Qatar Airways, the nation's national carrier.

"The traffic streams from the West to the East, that is from Europe to Asia, will be redirected via the Middle East," Aviation Expert Christian Lambertus told The Media Line. "That's why it could make sense the way the airports are expanding."

Once completed it will be one of the first airports in the world designed to handle the Airbus A380 super jumbo jet. The double-decker is capable of carrying up to 555 passengers but requires airports to expand their current facilities.

The British airline advisory firm Skytrax Research confirmed last month that Qatar Airways will receive five stars in the company's listing for 2009-2010, the only airline in the Middle East to receive such a status.

In contrast to other Gulf based airlines such as Emirates Airlines from Dubai, or Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi, which are fully government owned, Qatar Airways is partially owned by private investors.

Many Gulf countries see aviation and the infrastructure it requires as vital to national development. Aviation plays a central role in the Gulf region as despite a central geographical location, other means of transport are lacking.

Home to the world's largest oil and gas reserves, Gulf nations have intensified their efforts over the last decade to diversify their national economies away from oil. Construction on the Doha airport began in 2004 and some 20,000 construction workers are involved in the building process.