Confusion has surrounded the official opening date with media reports stating that the airport would be ready by June 2010, but a spokesperson from Dubai Airports said that this was the completion date for the first phase of the project and it had not altered from the original announcement.

“The first phase of Al Maktoum International is expected to be complete by mid-2010, but this has been the case since the announcement made by us in February 2009,” a Dubai Airports spokesperson told Aviation Business.

A completion date for the entire Dubai World Central complex is still to be announced.

Confusion also surrounds the completion date of Concourse 3 at Dubai International Airport.

A consortium led by Al Habtoor Leighton withdrew from the project recently, saying the partners could not agree on contract terms.

A new contract has been signed with Al Jaber Engineering and the completion date of the project was expected to be June 2010, but at the Airport Show in May a spokesperson told Aviation Business that the project would not be complete until the end of 2011.

In addition, Dubai Airports has not confirmed whether the project will exceed its original value of US$1.3 billion.