Emirates has broken ground on a $5.1 billion engineering complex at Dubai South, a project the airline says will become one of the world’s largest and most advanced aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities. The development, awarded to China Railway Construction Corporation with Artelia as project consultant, is scheduled for completion by mid-2030.
The complex will span about 1.1 million square meters, making it one of the largest buildings globally by volume and the largest steel structure in the GCC, according to company statements. Its hangar area is designed to service 28 wide-body aircraft simultaneously, described as the only hangar complex worldwide with such capacity. The site will also include the world’s largest free-span hangar at 285 meters wide and what Emirates calls the largest dedicated landing-gear workshop.
Facilities will feature two paint hangars capable of handling Emirates’ wide-body fleet and select narrow-body jets, 77,000 square meters of workshops for repairs and maintenance, and 380,000 square meters of storage and logistics space. A new 50,000-square-meter administrative building and 15,000 square meters of training facilities for Emirates Engineering staff are also planned.
Emirates says all buildings are targeting LEED Platinum certification, with solar panels to be installed across the roofs as part of wider sustainability measures. Once operational, the Dubai South hub will initially handle heavy maintenance and overflow work from the existing Emirates Engineering Centre at Dubai International Airport before ramping up to full capacity.