Al Maktoum International Airport/Dubai World Central (DWC)- Dubai's future airport!

Those flying to Dubai or UAE often land in DXB (Dubai) or Sharjah or Abu Dabhi. While these 3 airports in close proximity handle most of the inbound and outbound traffic for UAE, there’s a new airport called Al Maktoum International airport- with Airport code DWC (Stands for Dubai World Central) that is being readied for the future. The current airports in Dubai, Abu Dabhi and Sharjah are sort of reaching their operational limits as to how much flight they can handle. This capacity is not enough for UAE as it aims to grow its revenue from tourism and business. Thus the new DWC airport is getting lots of focus.

DWC originally began operations with cargo aircrafts. In late 2013, few passenger planes like Wizz air and Nas Air started operations out of Maktoum. Hungary based WizzAir operates twice a week flights to DWC from Budapest.

FlyDubai operates to Amman, Beirut, Kathmandu and Kuwait from DWC. [Details] Because of this, we can't book a Chennai-Amman through ticket with FlyDubai at present, as Chennai flight arrives at DXB and change of airport is required to connect to next flight.

At present main limitation of DWC Al Maktoum international airport is its distance from Dubai city- at least 40 kms and non-availability of metro or bus transport. However, I am told UAE authorities are trying to convince more n more airlines to operate out of DWC instead of DXB, to de-congest DXB and start promoting DWC. Lots of incentives are being provided to airlines willing to operate out of DWC instead of DXB. I am told even flag carrier Emirates is asked to shift to DWC, which has 6 runways and can facilitate more flights. Emirate's planned shift of base has been postponed multiple times- current target is by 2025 Emirates will operate fully out of DWC instead of DXB. [News]

Lots of urban planning is also likely to come up around DWC- golf club, residences, business parks etc. Wikipedia has some more details about the Al Maktoum international airport 

Should I worry as a passenger? Not immediately. I am sure the shift will come with required facilities like high speed train.  Only one has to factor more travel time. But by then city of Dubai will also be growing at Al Maktoum may not feel too far from city.