Dubai opens extensive second airport to passengers

 The Gulf emirate of Dubai opened passenger operations at its next airport, Al-Maktoum International, touted to be the world's largest once it is finished.

A Wizz Air plane from Budapest was the first passenger aircraft to land at the sprawling new facility, and it was greeting on the tarmac with a water cannon salute.

azeera Airways, another low-cost carrier, will pursue suit on Thursday with daily flights to and from Kuwait, while Bahrain's national carrier, Gulf Air, will begin action on December 8.

No other airlines have publicize intentions to use the new airport, which lies some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Dubai International, one of the world's busiest center for air passengers.

Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, was certain that other group would follow "in the coming months".

He keen out that Thirty Six  cargo carriers currently work out of the new airport, compared to only 2 in 2010.

Dubai International handled Fifty Seven million passengers in 2012, as it has become a main stop for air travel between the West, Asia and Australasia.

Al-Maktoum International was release only for cargo in June 2010, while passenger process were constantly overdue.

The new airport is located in Dubai World Central, an economic zone the government expect to turn into what it calls an "aerotropolis".

Once finished, it is to feature five runways that will be able to hold an yearly capacity of 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.

It is construct next to Dubai Jebel Ali Free Zone and its port, which is one of the world's largest man-made harbours, and a major containers terminal.

It is element of a grand project make known during Dubai's economic boom, but the pace of development slow during the monetary disaster that hit the Gulf emirate in 2009.

The airport "will play a very important role in the upcoming growth of Dubai as a centre for trade, commerce, transport, logistics and tourism", Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports, said in a statement.

The new airport is not meant at put back Dubai International, where growth work is ongoing, at least not for the time being, according to Griffiths.

"If DXB (Dubai International) is to close, it isn't a choice we have to make almost certainly for the next 30, 40 years," he told