Dubai's new international airport picks French partner

The outdoor advertising company JCDecaux has won a 10-year contract to sell advertising at the new Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International (DWC) airport.

The French company, which is listed on the Euronext Paris exchange, will have exclusive rights to sell advertising at the new transport hub, it said in a statement issued today.

When fully operational, DWC will be the world's largest airport, with an expected passenger capacity of up to 160 million people a year. It will feature five runways and up to four terminal buildings.

JCDecaux already holds the rights to sell advertising at the Dubai International Airport and Sharjah airport. In August, the firm said that it has signed a five-year advertising deal with HSBC for advertising at the two airports. The bank said the deal marked its "largest single media investment in the region".

In October, JCDecaux said its subsidiary JCDecaux ATA has entered into a 10-year contract for the exclusive advertising concession covering all 26 airports in Saudi Arabia.

The DWC contract was won by the firm's subsidiary JCDecaux Dicon.

"We are pleased to extend the partnership with JCDecaux Dicon to DWC," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, in a statement.

DWC opened for cargo operations earlier this year, with passenger operations originally slated to commence in March 2011.

But Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, said earlier this month that the launch of the passenger services may be pushed back. "At the moment, we are reviewing the opening date and it looks as if it'll be later in the year," Mr Griffiths told Reuters.

bflanagan@thenational.ae