Dubai awards Rs 50 km airport people-mover deal to L&T-led consortium

Dubai has awarded a contract for a 50 km automated people mover (APM) system at Al Maktoum International Airport, making it the world’s largest airport transit network. The contract went to a consortium of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, its Dubai subsidiary MHI-MESC, and Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T). L&T will handle on-site subsystems, while Mitsubishi manages vehicles, signalling and integration. The APM will connect nine stations across the first phase of the airport’s development.

At 50 km, the system will far exceed current record-holders: Dallas Fort Worth’s Skylink (about 8 km) and Atlanta’s Plane Train, which carries 91 million passengers a year. Completion is set for December 2031. The project is part of Dubai’s plan to turn Al Maktoum International into one of the world’s largest hub airports, targeting an opening in 2032 and a capacity of 260 million passengers annually once fully built.