All around the world new airports are being built and existing airports enlarged in countries which appear to realise that the supposed ‘climate crisis’ and the need for Net Zero are just a load of nonsense.
The largest new airport project is probably in Dubai. Within 10 years Dubai’s main airport will move to a new desert mega-hub, projected to be the busiest on the planet. Located 28 miles south-west of Dubai, Al Maktoum International Airport will have the largest capacity of any on Earth, with the potential to carry up to 260 million passengers per year.
It will replace the existing Dubai International Airport, already the busiest in the world for international traffic, handling 87 million passengers in 2023. Given that the Dubaians are increasing the capacity of their airport from 87 million passengers a year to a massive 260 million passengers a year, it doesn’t look like they’re too worried about what the world’s greatest climatologist, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calls “global boiling”. Just to put Dubai’s planned 260 million passengers a year capacity into context, Heathrow handles about 80 million passengers a year, Gatwick around 40 million, Manchester about 29 million and Birmingham just over 11 million.
In 2022, six new freight airports and 29 new general-purpose airports were built on the Chinese mainland, bringing respective totals to 254 and 399, according to a report from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Moreover, an average of eight new airports are expected to open in the country every year for the foreseeable future, while more existing facilities are being expanded and upgraded.
Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar is set to be India’s largest when it is finally complete. Switzerland’s Zürich Airport International is in charge of building the project, worth an estimated $4 billion, with operations due to start in 2024. To begin with, it will open with a single runway and terminal building, with a capacity of 12 million passengers a year. But later phases of the construction could see capacity extend to 70 million passengers a year.
Poland is planning to build what has been billed as the country’s largest airport and one of the largest in Europe in Baranow county near Warsaw. The project involves building a passenger terminal railway stations and transport hub. It will initially be able to handle 40 million passengers a year.
Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok’s main international airport) is adding two runways and a terminal, plus extending the existing terminal. This will increase its capacity to handle 150 million passengers annually, from the current 60 million. The estimated cost of this project is $3.7 billion.
Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport, used mainly by regional and budget airlines, will also undergo development, including a new terminal and building renovations. This expansion, projected to cost about $1.1 billion, will lift the airport capacity from 30 million to 50 million passengers per year by 2030.
Read More: As the World Takes Off, Net Zero Britain Stays Grounded