Reaching for the stars

Big is not big enough. Even though Dubai already has one large international airport, the Emirate is already building a second one here. (See the construction site from above here.)

Now called Al Maktoum International Airport (JXB), it is forecast to be the world's largest when it is completed in 2015, with operations starting in 2010 already. Surprised, anyone? Not really, I would guess. In the end, the US$ 8.1 billion facility, which includes six parallel runways, will have an annual cargo capacity of 12 million tons and a passenger capacity of 120-150 million passengers per year. As a comparison: In 2007, 68 million people used London Heathrow, Europe's largest airport. By the way, Dubai already has the world's largest man-made port, Jebel Ali...

And there's even more than just the usual superlatives. There are rumors that Dubai is in discussions with Richard Branson, head of Virgin and pioneer of commercial spaceflight, that Virgin Galactic, 'the world's first spaceline', might have its very own space terminal at the new airport (if you want to book your spaceflight for as little as $200,000, go here).

If it were actually true, that could be a perfect match - Branson has always been dreaming big, and Dubai is probably just the right place for something like that.

Who said "The sky is the limit"? And what date is it today?