Doha opening delayed
Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar has seen its opening put back to the middle of this year, but will open with a larger capacity (30 million passengers per year) than initially envisaged).
The US$15.5 billion airport has seen a number of planned openings come and go, including the end of 2012, April 1, 2013 and the end of last year.
Steering Committee chairman Abdul Aziz Mohammad Al-Noaimi was reported to have said: “Despite delays, which were a result of changes requested during construction to expand the project, as well as challenges we faced regarding some contracts, we are on track for a mid-year opening.”
He added, “The third phase was intended for a 2015 start but we preferred to accelerate the process and integrate all construction phases to complete the entire project in a shortened time.
In its opening configuration, the terminal has three concourses and 33 contact gates, increasing to five concourses and 65 contact gates, including eight for the A380 in the final build-out.