China begins to build in Dubai one of the largest aircraft maintenance complexes in the world, with $5 billion, eight giant hangars, and the capacity to service 28 large aircraft simultaneously by 2030.

Written by Maria Heloisa Barbosa Borges

Published on 22/05/2026 at 20:06

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The CRCC, China’s state-owned infrastructure company, began construction on May 19 of the new Emirates engineering complex in Dubai South, next to Al Maktoum International Airport. According to information from xinhuanet, the $5.1 billion project will cover 1.1 million square meters, with eight maintenance hangars, two painting hangars, and the capacity to service 28 large aircraft simultaneously. It is expected to become the largest and most advanced aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility in the world by 2030.

China has just begun construction of one of the largest aircraft maintenance complexes on the planet, this time in Dubai. The state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation, known by the acronym CRCC, is responsible for executing the new Emirates Airline engineering center in the Dubai South area, with a total investment of 5.1 billion dollars and completion expected by 2030. The groundbreaking ceremony, held on May 19, was attended by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Emirates, company President Sir Tim Clark, and Dai Hegen, President of CRCC.

The complex will cover 1.1 million square meters, including eight large maintenance hangars, two painting hangars, 77,000 square meters of specialized workshops, and 380,000 square meters of logistics and storage areas. The technical highlight is a hangar with a 285-meter clear span and the world’s largest landing gear workshop. Once completed, the center will be able to simultaneously service 28 wide-body aircraft, offering comprehensive inspection, engine maintenance, and painting services. China has classified the project as a milestone of bilateral cooperation with the United Arab Emirates and the Belt and Road Initiative.

What Emirates is building and why it needs it

Emirates currently operates a fleet of over 260 aircraft, including the world’s largest fleet of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777. The company is awaiting the arrival of hundreds of new planes in the coming years, including Boeing 777X, Airbus A350, and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The volume of aircraft in operation and on order requires maintenance infrastructure that the current center at Dubai International Airport cannot handle alone.

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CRCC and the “China Construction” standard in the Middle East

Photo: Courtesy of the United Arab Emirates

China Railway Construction Corporation is one of the largest infrastructure companies in the world and has executed railway, road, and port projects in dozens of countries. Dai Hegen, president of CRCC, described the venture as an “important practice to deepen pragmatic cooperation between China and the United Arab Emirates” and as a demonstrative project of the “China Construction” concept, which combines execution speed with high technical complexity.

China has been the largest trading partner of the Emirates for ten consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching 108 billion dollars in 2025, a 6% increase over the previous year. Chinese companies like Huawei and Alibaba already operate regional centers in Dubai and Riyadh, supporting 5G networks, data centers, and cloud platforms. The aircraft maintenance complex is another piece in China’s strategy to build critical infrastructure in strategic Middle Eastern markets.

The numbers that make the complex unique

The scale of the project is difficult to visualize without comparisons. The 1.1 million square meters are equivalent to more than 150 football fields. The eight maintenance hangars were sized to accommodate wide-body aircraft like the A380, the largest commercial passenger plane in operation, which requires hangars with exceptionally high and wide doors.

The main hangar will have a clear span of 285 meters, a distance that allows multiple aircraft to be accommodated side by side without intermediate columns. The landing gear workshop will be the largest in the world, capable of disassembling, inspecting, repairing, and reassembling the wheel and shock absorber assemblies that support aircraft weighing over 500 tons during landings and takeoffs. China will build all this in four years, from 2026 to 2030, with technical consultancy from the French company Artelia.

The strategic context for Dubai and global aviation

The construction of the complex is happening in parallel with the expansion of Al Maktoum International Airport, which is being transformed into the largest airport in the world, with five parallel runways, 400 boarding gates, and a capacity for 260 million passengers per year. The combined investment in the airport and the engineering center positions Dubai as the global epicenter of commercial aviation in the coming decades, a goal aligned with the emirate’s D33 economic agenda.

For China, the project reinforces a presence that already includes ports, railways, telecommunications, and energy in the Middle East and Africa. CRCC is not just building hangars in Dubai; it is demonstrating that the Chinese construction industry can execute the most complex projects in the aviation sector, a category that until a few years ago was dominated by European and American companies. The Emirates complex will be the showcase of this capability.

Did you know that China is building the world’s largest aircraft maintenance center in Dubai? What impresses you the most: the $5.1 billion, the 28 planes maintained at the same time, or the hangar with a 285-meter span? Tell us in the comments.

China begins to build in Dubai one of the largest aircraft maintenance complexes in the world, with $5 billion, eight giant hangars, and the capacity to service 28 large aircraft simultaneously by 2030.

What Emirates is building and why it needs it

CRCC and the “China Construction” standard in the Middle East

The numbers that make the complex unique

The strategic context for Dubai and global aviation

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China begins to build in Dubai one of the largest aircraft maintenance complexes in the world, with $5 billion, eight giant hangars, and the capacity to service 28 large aircraft simultaneously by 2030.

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