Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH) is the largest and most ambitious aerospace hubs in the world today.
Ambitious even by Dubai’s standards, the MBR Aerospace Hub is part of the larger Dubai South project, an urban development plan that aims to transform the area around Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) into a vast new city combining industrial, commercial and residential districts.
Housing for around one million inhabitants, as well as office buildings, retail, logistics and a major aerospace industry hub, is expected to rise from the sand that surrounds what is currently Dubai’s second airport.
Some of the world’s most prominent players in different segments of the aviation industry are gradually starting to take positions within MBR Aerospace Hub project.
This process will culminate in all of Dubai’s commercial aviation activity, including that of its two major airlines, Emirates and flydubai, moving to an expanded Al Maktoum International Airport within ten years.
During the 2024 MEBAA business aviation show, AeroTime met with Tahnoon Saif, CEO of Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub and asked him about the path ahead for the organization he leads.
“The airport is the heart of the project,” he said. “We are talking about the biggest international airport, once it is completed by 2032-34. That’s the time frame.”
“We are expecting it to have five runways, in addition to an independent runway for training.”
Once completed, DWC will be capable of handling approximately an additional 150 million passengers per year, on top of the 27 million passengers it is capable of handling at present
How will the transition from DXB to DWC take place?
Saif indicated that this process is already underway. Most freighters already land at Al Maktoum International Airport and cargo is then moved between the two airports through a land bridge: two trucks every hour move cargo between DXB and DWC connecting the two systems.
When it comes to passenger services, Dubai Airports had its strategy to allocate flights at DWC, said Saif and currently, most of the passenger activity at DWC consists of point-to-point and charter airlines, as well as private jets.
However, things will look different soon as the new airport facilities come into use and the date of the big airport migration approaches.
But the airport itself is just part of the story. In fact, the airport proper will only take half of the 145 square kilometres destined for aerospace activities at Dubai South. Around the airport, there’s already an operating Logistics District, a Residential District, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub as well as the Business Park in Dubai South.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub caters for aircrafts maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activities, business aviation and other commercial activities related to aviation businesses, such as training, commercial aircraft chartering and licensing.
“All of this will be happening at DWC as a one stop shop,” Saif said. “Dubai South is a government entity with the status of free zone authority. Additionally, we provide commercial activities such as licensing, employee visas, planning and zoning, which are all done in-house.”
He went on to explain how the free zone status will offer advantages to companies operating from Dubai South in general and from MBR Aerospace Hub in specific. The value proposition includes foreign ownership rules, the applicable tax regime and visa regulations for employees.
Saif confidently stated that many registration and administrative processes will not take more than a week from start to finish, while highlighting MBRAH’s focus on the aviation industry.
“The Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub is an ecosystem for aviation only,” he added. “We do not cater for non-aviation companies, whether general logistics or any other industries, if it’s not aviation or aero logistics. We are completely focused and became one of the biggest aerospace hubs in less than 10 years.”
An important milestone will take place in 2027, when Emirates Airlines will complete work on a massive maintenance center at DWC.
“After Toulouse and Seattle, it’s going to be the biggest,” Saif said proudly. “It’s under construction as we speak and expected to be completed by the second half of 2027. And flydubai will also have its maintenance shop here, so the area is getting very much populated.”
Other approved maintenance centers for private jets are also moving into the area. For example, during MEBAA 2024, two large executive jet operators, Comlux and ExecuJet, inaugurated their respective service centers at DWC. Saif stated that he expects the area to be populated by 2028/2030, prior to DWC becoming Dubai’s main airport.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub is also expected to play a major role in the advent of the advanced air mobility era and the roll-out of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Dubai. Some of the most prominent players in this space, such as US-based eVTOL developers Joby Aviation and Archer, have also announced plans to establish a presence in the area.
Saif added. “Our role is to host a maintenance hub for those [eVTOL] companies and MBR Aerospace Hub already have a helicopter center. The same infrastructure with proper framework will accommodate the business of eVTOLS.”
Where will money come from to finance such ambitious growth plans?
Saif said there are two parts to the financial set-up. “We are a government entity but commercially driven. “We create value and raise funds for MBRAH projects by commercializing it. . This is our approach and model with financial institutions.
On the other hand, third party investors contribute in funding the project and building their state-of-the-art facilities and we expect $1.5B to be injected in infrastructure and assets in the next 2 to 3 years.
Saif estimated that the whole project, excluding the construction of the Al Maktoum International Airport, would require $US17 billion at today’s exchange rates. He added that, by the time the airport goes into service, and once inflation is factored in, the figure may climb to US$20 billion.
The goal, however, is for the aerospace hub to be operating at close to full capacity by the time DWC starts operating as Dubai’s main air hub.
“This is going to be completed before the airport. We signed almost all the lands you see on the airside; they are gone. All the adjacent districts will be completed by 2030. I will not say I’m conservative here, but I will tell you, we can see that the project will be mature before the airport starts its major overnight move,” Saif said. “The completion of some components, for example, car rental areas, hotels, and other airport-related ecosystem for the airport community, will be dependent on the airport’s completion. But other than that, logistics, aerospace and residential will be 100% developed.”
He also highlighted how, despite the availability of land, MBRAH is applying innovative constructive techniques to make the most out of the existing space, for example by ‘going vertical’. Saif explained how some of the current buildings at the aerospace hub already follow this approach.
Saif pointed to the interest of companies in operating out of these types of facilities at DWC. For example, one of the facilities being readied is a maintenance center with a ground floor plus three additional floors, containing a training center, several engine shops, and other auxiliary activities.
As part of this design, trucks drop off parts and components at a reception area located on the ground floor and these are then moved around via elevators. The entire facility is designed to allow forklifts to manoeuvre. From the outside it looks like it could be an office building, but it is a multi-level MRO facility.
“We are just being cautious on land, so we are going vertical from today. That’s very important. We can see land scarcity. Dubai built an airport more than 50 years ago. Now this is the airport for the next 50 years and beyond.” Saif said
The project is being built with multi-modality at its heart. In this regard, Saif explained that, besides the planned connection to the United Arab Emirates rail network, the airport is also well connected by road. Not just to Dubai, but also to neighboring Abu Dhabi and to Dubai’s seaport.
“There is a seamless bridge connectivity between Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai South free zone with the seaport. So, imagine goods used to take two days to be processed from the ship to the aircraft. We are talking less than four hours today,” Saif said. “That time reduces the financial burden for clients. Where they needed to put some capital or security deposit, now there is no longer a need. That’s one bonded area.”
According to Saif, the aerospace hub is part of a much larger vision for what Dubai’s place in the world economy should be.
“We are not building the largest airports in the world. We are building the aviation capital of the world” this vision was stated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. “What we are working on goes beyond building an industrial area, we are adding a lifestyle element to it. You will have retail shops, the busiest private jet terminal in the region. We are building the ecosystem for that – for example, private shopping. That’s one of the models we are working on. We are building a community for aircraft brokers, insurers and other types of services.”
He continued: “So, with the diversified products we have, airside, landside, technical and commercial, we are trying to be one-stop shop for the industry. By the end of December, we announced a new industrial tenant, which within a period of two years will build a test engine cell on a 100,000 square meters’ plot within MBR Aerospace Hub.”
“There’s no such thing as luck,” Saif said. “Luck is simply when opportunity meets preparation. We focus on being ready. While we have the infrastructure in place, what we’re truly building is confidence in the industry’s growth. It might seem like speculation, but we’re certain it will fill up quickly.”
Saif was enthusiastic about the pace of growth anticipated in the coming years.
“And all this is happening without even Emirates Engineering and flydubai having moved here yet,” he said. “Imagine, in two years’ time when flydubai has its maintenance shop operational here, and in less than three years’ time when Emirates Engineering will have the biggest maintenance shop here. What will be the ripple effect?”
Saif concluded: “Our goal was to secure anchor tenants early on—even before attracting GE, Lufthansa Technik, and other major players. Their confidence in our project allowed us to secure funding and build the ecosystem.”
