A new experimental set up for humidification-dehumidification operating on the principle of an air lift pump was experimented. Experimental work investigates the main operating parameters of a proposed desalination process working with an air humidification-dehumidification method. The principal objective of this investigation was the determination of the humid air behavior through single stage of an airlift humidification-dehumidification system. The experimental work studied the influence of the operating conditions such as the water temperature, the submerged ratio and the airflow rate on the performance of the setup. The experimental results show that the production rate of the system increases with the both increase of the brackish water temperature and the airflow rate. The productivity of the system is strongly affected by the brackish water temperature, airflow rate and slightly affected by the submerged ratio. Within the studied ranges, the maximum productivity of the system reached to 4.035 kg/h, at water temperature (T-w) = 85 degrees C and <(m)over dot>(a) = 5 kg/h. A good agreement was achieved with productivity calculations. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.