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Mariam Al-Yazidi

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  • Dubai Aviation City Corporation has awarded a 50-kilometre automated people mover contract to a consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
  • The network will link nine stations and run 165 driverless vehicles, with completion scheduled for December 2031.
  • MHI says the system will be the longest airport people mover built anywhere, more than six times the current record holder in Dallas.
  • No contract value has been published by the Dubai side, though L&T has placed its share in a band worth roughly 280 million to 560 million dollars.

Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) targets 260 million passengers a year, and Dubai has now decided how most of them will move once they are inside the gates. Dubai Aviation City Corporation, a government entity, awarded the contract for a 50-kilometre automated people mover system to a consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Japanese group describes the network as the largest of its kind at any airport. Nine stations are planned, served by 165 driverless vehicles. Completion is scheduled for December 2031, a year ahead of the airport’s planned opening.

Who governs the award?

Dubai Aviation City Corporation sits inside the emirate’s government, which means the money and the accountability are public. Joining MHI are MHI Mobility Engineering Services and the Indian engineering group Larsen and Toubro. The Japanese partners lead design, procurement and testing of the vehicles and signalling, plus overall system integration. L&T takes the remaining subsystems, from design through on-site construction.

Neither the corporation nor MHI has published a price. L&T has classified its portion as a large order under its own reporting bands, a range of 2,500 crore to 5,000 crore rupees, or somewhere between 280 million and 560 million dollars. The precise figure stays undisclosed. Delivery is being implemented through Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects. MHI is not a stranger here, having built the Dubai Metro, which opened in 2011.

The first phase is set at 150 million passengers

Capacity is the reason. Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) targets 260 million passengers a year in its final form, alongside 12 million tonnes of cargo, across a site of about 70 square kilometres with five parallel runways. Reaching that figure would make it the world’s largest airport by design capacity. The first phase is set at 150 million passengers, and the higher number is a long-term ceiling rather than an opening-day promise.

Dubai International handled 95.2 million passengers in 2025, its busiest year on record, and has almost no room left to stretch. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum approved the new passenger terminal and a 128 billion dirham budget in April 2024, about 35 billion dollars. The Al Maktoum International Airport expansion has been running through a series of contract awards since.

A benchmark set well above Dallas

The 50-kilometre network would run more than six times the length of the current leader, the roughly 8-kilometre SkyLink at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, the most heavily travelled airport in the world, carries around 91 million passengers a year and moves them internally on its Plane Train. Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) targets 260 million passengers over time, close to three times Atlanta’s present traffic. Transfers become the binding constraint at that scale. MHI says the system is meant to cut journey times inside the Dubai World Central airport, improve convenience and keep operations efficient as volumes climb.

Technology decisions held open

Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, has said the second phase is being designed around new technology and around convenience for travellers. He has spoken of building an airport experience like none other, and has indicated some equipment choices will be taken late in the programme, so newer systems can still be adopted. Keeping options open guards against obsolescence. It also loads risk onto the schedule, and on a public project of this size the timetable is the one measure outsiders can check without access to the books. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries contract fixes one of the larger pieces early. Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) targets 260 million passengers, and the people mover decides whether an airport of that size works from the inside.

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  • Aviation, DACC, Dubai, DWC, Economy, Tourism

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Apple's iPhone Duo
  • iPhone

The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable iPhone, and it opens like a small book into a 7.6-inch screen. Closed, you hold a 5.4-inch outer display that fits in a pocket. Both screens share the same aspect ratio, so a video or app scales cleanly as you move between them. Stand it up on a table, and it works hands-free for calls or video. Apple showed the phone on September 9 at its Surprise and Shine event in Cupertino, where new chief executive John Ternus led his first keynote. He said rival foldables often feel like two phones stuck together. The Duo tries to feel like one device that changes size when you need it.

What the screens and camera can do

Open the Duo and the inner display runs 50 percent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. A custom nano-texture finish cuts glare and hides the crease, the seam that has annoyed foldable owners for years. Peak brightness reaches 3000 nits, so the screen stays readable outdoors. Inside, an under-display FaceTime camera keeps the view whole, with no notch breaking the screen. The rear camera leans on a 48MP Dual Fusion system with a main and an ultra-wide lens. There is no telephoto, a trade Apple made to save room in the thin body. Smart Take reads the scene and snaps the photo when everyone poses, so you can stand in the shot instead of behind it. You can also shoot 48MP photos and 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.

iPhone Duo specs that matter for daily use

The iPhone Duo specs point to a phone built for long, heavy days. Inside sits the A20 Pro chip with a vapor chamber that spreads heat during games and video edits. Apple pairs it with a dual-battery design that fits more cells into the frame. You get up to 31 hours of video on the inner screen and up to 44 hours on the outer one. Plug it in, and it reaches 50 percent in about 20 minutes. A Grade 5 titanium frame and a precision hinge give the body its strength, and Touch ID moves to the side button in place of Face ID.

iPhone Duo prices are ridiculously high

Here is the part your wallet cares about. The iPhone Duo price starts at $1,999 for 256GB in the United States, which makes it the most expensive iPhone in the lineup. In the UAE, iPhone Duo starts at AED 8,499 for the 256 GB, AED 9,349 for the 512 GB, AED 11,049 for the 1 TB, and the laptop-price level of AED 13,599 for the 2 TB. Preorders open October 16, and the iPhone Duo release date lands on October 23. Apple plans a first wave across more than 70 countries, then adds 28 more on October 30. For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts near $1,899.

Why the foldable iPhone arrives only now

Apple waited years while Samsung and others sold foldables. Now the foldable iPhone brings iOS 27 features built for two screens, like Split View and apps that respond to how you hold the phone. eSIM handles the connection, since there is no SIM tray anywhere. Apple Pencil support arrives later in 2026. That gap of a few weeks after the iPhone 18 Pro points to a slower, careful rollout for a harder build. If you have wanted a phone that turns into a small tablet without feeling clumsy, this is Apple’s answer, and you can hold one this month.

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Work from Park initiative
  • Business

The Work from Park initiative puts bookable workspaces inside Dubai’s public parks, starting with Al Barsha Pond Park. Dubai Municipality announced the programme on 19 April 2026 and said it had signed two memoranda of cooperation to deliver it. One went to Group AMANA, which builds the units, and the other to Letswork LLC, which operates them.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises

The structure is a public-private partnership. Dubai Municipality provides the park and the mandate. Private firms handle design, construction, and daily operation. The municipality said the model gives the private sector a route into public facilities while each site keeps its role as a park.

Target users are entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and anyone doing remote work in Dubai. Content creators get dedicated production rooms, which the municipality said are meant to strengthen their place in the emirate’s creative economy.

Letswork runs the booking side. Users reserve space through the Letswork app, check in on arrival and use one membership across the company’s network of venues. The offer covers desks by the hour, event space, podcast recording and production rooms for creators. Letswork will also run training programmes and group sessions for creative talent and new businesses.

How the Work from Park initiative is built

Group AMANA delivers the first site through its DuBox unit. DuBox builds the workspace modules in a factory, then transports them to the park and assembles them on site. The municipality said this shortens the build schedule, reduces waste and lowers the environmental footprint compared with conventional construction. Units can be reconfigured later as demand shifts.

The Al Barsha Pond Park site was scheduled to open in May 2026. Letswork now lists it as a bookable venue on its platform. The listing describes modular pods with high-speed Wi-Fi, power and climate-controlled seating, plus podcast studios and creative production rooms. Members can book day passes, meeting rooms and private offices under one Letswork membership.

Dubai Municipality said the Work from Park initiative would add more sites across the emirate later in 2026. Locations and opening dates for those have yet to be confirmed.

Bader Anwahi, CEO of the Public Facilities Agency at Dubai Municipality, said the partnerships combine advanced construction methods with private sector expertise to produce public infrastructure “that is flexible, sustainable, and aligned with modern lifestyles and work patterns.”

Richard Abboud, CEO of Group AMANA, said modular construction lets the company build efficient, adaptable units at speed.

Why the Work from Park initiative fits Dubai’s planning goals

The programme sits under three policy frameworks. Dubai’s 2040 Parks and Greenery Strategy targets 95 million park visits a year by 2040. Land use falls under the Dubai Urban Plan 2040. Economic targets through 2033 come from the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Omar AlMheiri, co-founder of Letswork, said the partnership would add dedicated creative spaces and podcast studios. He described it as a step toward changing where and how people in the UAE do flexible work.

Dubai Municipality describes the Work from Park initiative as the first of its kind. Existing Dubai coworking spaces operate from office towers, hotels and retail sites. This programme moves the format onto municipal parkland, with the municipality as host and a private platform as operator.

Outdoor workspaces in Dubai face one obvious constraint: summer heat. The Letswork listing addresses this with climate-controlled seating inside the pods. Demand across a full year of operation will show whether the format holds. The second site, once announced, will be the next signal of how fast the municipality intends to scale.

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