Dubai airport expansion adds 31-mile automated people mover system

Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport expansion is moving into another major infrastructure phase, with a contract awarded for a 31-mile automated people mover system that will connect terminals and concourses across the future airport.

The system is planned to include nine stations and 165 automated vehicles, with completion scheduled for December 2031. It forms part of the first phase of the wider airport development, which is targeting a 2032 opening and is intended to eventually replace Dubai International Airport as the emirate’s main aviation hub.

The scale is exceptional. The expanded Al Maktoum International Airport is planned across roughly 27 sq miles and is ultimately designed to handle more than 260 million passengers annually. Once fully developed, it will include five parallel runways, hundreds of gates, major terminals and concourses, underground baggage systems, energy centres, district cooling facilities and supporting airfield infrastructure.

The automated people mover is not simply a passenger convenience feature. At this scale, it becomes a core mobility system inside the airport itself. Multiple tracks are planned beneath the aircraft apron, allowing passengers to move between terminals and concourses without interfering with aircraft stands, taxiways or ground-handling operations.

This is particularly important because individual concourses are expected to extend for approximately 1.7 miles and include around 100 boarding gates. Walking distances alone would be impractical, while surface movement would conflict with the operational airfield. An underground people mover allows the airport to function as a connected system rather than a series of isolated terminal buildings.

The latest nine-station plan also appears larger than earlier published first-phase descriptions, which referred to an initial four-station system before later expansion. The most recent announcement does not fully explain how the updated configuration relates to the earlier phasing, but it confirms that passenger mobility is being treated as a first-order design requirement.

The people mover sits within a much wider programme of underground and substructure works. Dubai officials previously said more than USD3.5bn of construction packages were already under execution, with preparations for more than USD15bn in additional work. Ongoing works include more than 17,000 concrete piles, excavation exceeding 58.9 million cubic yards and approximately 5.9 million cubic yards of concrete.

Separate underground baggage galleries and batch centres are also planned, with capacity to process up to 30,000 bags per hour. Automated baggage vehicles are expected to move luggage through screening and sorting before delivering it directly to aircraft stands through pop-up hatches.

The challenge is not only size. It is coordination. The airport must combine deep excavations, long underground routes, baggage logistics, airfield pavements, terminal structures, utilities, drainage, power generation and future rail connections into one integrated system.

For passengers, the automated people mover will eventually appear as a fast internal transport link. For engineers, it is part of the hidden infrastructure that makes a mega-airport operational.