Emirates commenced construction on May 19 on a $5.1 billion maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, a project the airline calls the largest aviation engineering facility in the world by volume. Beijing-based China Railway Construction Corporation is leading the build, with French firm Artelia serving as project consultant.
The complex will cover 1.1 million square meters and house a hangar capable of servicing 28 widebody aircraft simultaneously, a record for any commercial MRO site. An adjacent two-hangar painting facility and the largest dedicated landing gear workshop in the world are also planned. Completion is targeted for mid-2030, at which point Emirates Engineering will bring specialist capabilities including parts production, avionics, and heavy maintenance under one roof.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates' chairman and CEO, described the project as a strategic play to position the airline as an engineering partner for regional and global carriers. The facility will initially handle overflow maintenance from Emirates' current operations at Dubai International Airport before expanding into third-party MRO contracts.
Aviation MRO operators building out their own capability profiles can use aviation maintenance video production to document procedures, train technicians at scale, and accelerate onboarding across distributed facilities.
Source: AirlineGeeks -- https://airlinegeeks.com/2026/05/19/emirates-starts-work-on-massive-5b-mro-facility/