Construction started on Monday on one of the world’s largest civil aviation maintenance hangar complexes, a more than five billion U.S. dollar project being developed by Emirates Airline in Dubai World Central. The site, which covers about 1.21 million square meters, is scheduled for completion in 2030 and is designed to give Emirates a much larger base for keeping its global fleet in service.

The complex will include eight large maintenance hangars, two specialized painting hangars and related auxiliary facilities. Once operational, it is expected to expand support for the airline’s aircraft network at a time when carriers are still under pressure to keep planes moving and maintenance schedules tight. The project is being built by China Railway Construction Corporation, giving the venture a clear industrial link between Dubai and Beijing.

Emirates said the development is part of a broader push to deepen the aviation maintenance sector in Dubai. Adel Ahmad Al Redha said the airline will continue to contribute to the sector through many projects that attract talent and create more job opportunities for local and international communities, while aligning with Dubai’s economic agenda D33.

The scale of the project is what makes it stand out. Hangar complexes of this size are rare, and this one is being described as among the largest civil aviation maintenance facilities in the world. For Emirates, the timing matters because the airline is building for a fleet that will need more in-house support as it grows and ages, and because Dubai is still pushing to strengthen aviation as a core part of its economy.

The project is also being presented as a symbol of China-UAE cooperation. Dai Hegen said the partnership reflects the deepening of good-neighborly friendship and pragmatic cooperation between China and the UAE, and called it an important practice in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and a significant outcome of “Built by China” services in building a China-Arab community with a shared future.

That leaves the most important question less about whether the project will reshape Emirates’ maintenance capability and more about how quickly such a large build can move from ceremony to operation. The answer is already on the record: construction has begun, the target is 2030, and the airline is betting that the hangars will be ready to carry a bigger share of its global upkeep from Dubai World Central.