Emirates is constructing a new $353 million engineering centre on a 55-hectare site on the north side of Dubai International Airport to keep pace with the growth of its fleet, which is expected to more than double from the current 74 aircraft over the next seven years.
When completed, the new centre will be one of the biggest civil aviation maintenance facilities in the world. Its eight hangars will form the largest free-spanned structures in the Middle East, with roofs supported by 110-metre long single spans.
The new centre will service Emirates existing fleet as well as the additional 99 aircraft presently on order, including 45 Airbus A380-800 superjumbos, 29 Boeing 777-300ERs and 20 Airbus 340-600s, and will also accommodate third party maintenance. It is scheduled for completion by the beginning of next year, when the airline’s fleet is forecast to have increased to more than 80 aircraft.
His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman of Emirates said: “This is the airline’s single largest facility investment ever and among our most cost-effective ones.
“It will make us proud by setting a new standard of excellence for the industry but more importantly it will support the growth of the Emirates fleet with in-house capability that will also be a significant source of revenue, thanks to third-party servicing contracts.”
The centre’s seven fully air-conditioned hangars for heavy and light maintenance, each 110m x 105m – more than twice the size of a soccer field – together with a paint hangar, will cover more than nine hectares or an area equivalent to 17 soccer fields. (Emirates’ current engineering centre has three smaller hangars.)
Each hangar will have a mezzanine docking system for access to the aircraft, while two hangars will be equipped with full fuselage docking systems designed for heavy maintenance.
In addition, all hangars as well as selected workshops will be equipped with roof-mounted cranes.
Flexible, perforated air conditioning ducting will be used in hangars and large workshops to provide effective cooling in all weather conditions.
All the support services needed in the hangars including air conditioning and electrical power will be housed underground. When needed, consoles will be raised from the floor. This avoids potential accidents caused by trailing wires across the hangar floor.
Outside the hangars, the engineering centre will have nine dedicated aircraft parking bays, with facilities for refuelling.
Testing of engines on the wing will be done in a multi-million dirham engine run-up bay with 15-metre-high acoustic walls.
In addition to stores, workshops, an office block and multi-storey parking for 1,500 cars, the new centre will include a security building and the Emirates’ Engineering Training School, which will be re-located from its present home in the Emirates Aviation College.
Facilities for staff will include a canteen, a coffee shop, a gym and an auditorium. Staff will also enjoy covered moving walkways between the car park and the hangars.
Wireless communication throughout the centre will allow engineers to access technical documentation via laptops in close proximity to the aircraft under maintenance. Cordless office phones also will be used throughout the centre.
Below ground, a two-kilometre service tunnel, 15 metres wide, will supply chilled, potable water and fire-fighting water, electrical power and the communications network.
The main consultants are ADP.i (Aeroports de Paris), with Fraser Nag Partnership as consultants for the landside facilities. The project is being managed for Emirates by the airline’s Facilities Management department in consultation with Emirates Engineering and its IT, security and safety departments, and Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation.
Emirates flies three times weekly between Dubai and Malta, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday on Airbus A330-200. Flights from Malta to Dubai fly over Tripoli.