By the end of the 20th century, Doha International Airport (DIA) was over 70 years old and in need of major upgrades. However, lack of available land meant DIA expansion would be difficult, especially the inability to add a second runway. The planning started for a new state-of-the-art airport in 2003 while the construction began in 2005. The site of the airport (terminal and runway) lies 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of the older Doha International Airport. It is spread over an area of 3,600 hectares (9,000 acres), and was set to initially serve airlines that will not utilize lounge access. Hamad International Airport was designed to cater for a projected ongoing increase in the volume of traffic. The airport has an initial annual capacity of 29 million passengers, three times the current volume. Upon completion, it will be able to handle 93 million passengers per year, making it the second largest airport in the region after Dubai. It is also expected to handle 320,000 aircraft movements and 2 million tonnes of cargo annually. The check-in and retail areas are expected to be 12 times larger than those at the current airport. The airport will be two-thirds the size of Doha city. The airport has an oasis theme. Many of the buildings have a water motif, with wave-styled roofs and desert plants growing in recycled water. The airport is built over 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi), half of which is on reclaimed land. The Steering Committee awarded the contract for the development of the airport to Bechtel. The contract includes the design, construction management and project management of the facilities. The terminal and concourses were designed by the architecture firm HOK. Engineering, Procurement and Construction contracts for Phase I and II were undertaken by Turkish TAV Construction and Japanese Taisei Corporation. Cargo operations began on 1 December 2013, with an inaugural flight by Qatar Airways Cargo arriving from Europe. The original soft launch on 2 April 2013 was cancelled just a few hours prior, and was postponed indefinitely due to unsatisfactory safety related issues that needed further reviewing taking nine months to address. Hamad International Airport was then set to begin passenger operations in January 2014, with a soft opening. Qatar Airways threatened a $600 million lawsuit against the joint venture contractor Lindner Depa Interiors for delaying the opening of the airport by failing to complete its lounges on time; LDI stated that it was delayed due to inadequate site access. Qatar Airways later blamed Bechtel for the opening delay in April 2013, citing failures to meet regulatory requirements. Hamad International Airport began passenger operations on 30 April 2014, with ten initial airlines operating. Qatar Airways and remaining airlines started operations to Hamad Airport on 27 May 2014 at 09:00 (Qatar time). An expansion plan announced in September 2015 called for an extension of the check-in area, an expansion of concourses D and E into a 1.3 km (0.81 mi) long concourse, and a new passenger amenity area in the D/E complex with lounges, shops and restaurants. As part of this expansion plan, the Doha Metro was extended to the airport with the opening of the red line airport branch in December 2019. In 2016, the airport was named the 50th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, serving 37,283,987 passengers, a 20.2% increase from 2015. In 2019, the airport witnessed a 12.4% increase in annual passenger traffic. More than 38.8 million passengers arrived at the airport in 2019, up from 34.5 million in 2018. In 2025, the airport handled 54.3 million passengers, an increase of 3% over 2024 totals.