Dubai International Airport Official Website: Dubai Airports
Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB, ICAO: OMDB) (Arabic: مطار دبي الدولي) is the primary airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates and is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic. It is also the 3rd busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, the 6th busiest cargo airport in world and the busiest hub for the Airbus A380. In 2015, DXB handled 78 million passengers, 2.51 million tonnes of cargo and registered 403,517 aircraft movements.
Dubai International is situated in the Al Garhoud district, 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km; 2.9 mi) east of Dubai and spread over an area of 2,900 hectares (7,200 acres) of land. The airport is operated by the Dubai Airports Company and is the home base of Dubai's international airlines, Emirates and flydubai. The Emirates hub is the largest airline hub in the Middle East; Emirates handles around 65% of all passenger traffic and accounts for about 45% of all aircraft movements at the airport. Dubai Airport is also the base for low-cost carrier flydubai which handles 11.6% of passenger traffic at DXB. The airport consists of three terminals and has a total capacity of 90 million passengers annually. Terminal 3 is the second largest building in the world by floor space and the largest airport terminal in the world. As of January 2016, there are over 7,700 weekly flights operated by 140 airlines to over 270 destinations across all six inhabited continents.
Dubai International is an important contributor to the Dubai economy, employing approximately 90,000 people, indirectly supports over 400,000 jobs and contributes over US$26.7 billion to the economy, which represents around 27 per cent of Dubai’s GDP and 21% of the employment in Dubai. It is predicted that by 2020, the economic contribution of Dubai’s aviation sector will rise to 37.5% of the city's GDP and by 2030, the economic impact of aviation is projected to grow to $88.1 billion and support 1.95 million jobs in Dubai or 44.7% of the GDP and 35.1% of the total employment.
Dubai International Airport History
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| Old picture of Dubai International Airport |
The history of civil aviation in Dubai started in July 1937 when an air agreement was signed for a flying boat base for the aircraft of Imperial Airways with rental of the base at about 440 Rupees per month – this included the guards' wages. The Empire Flying Boats also started operating once a week flying east to Karachi and west to Southampton, England. By February 1938, there were four flying boats a week.
In the 1940s, flying from Dubai was by flying boats operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), operating the Horseshoe line from Southern Africa via the Persian Gulf to Sydney.
Dubai International Airport Construction
Construction of the airport was ordered by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in 1959. It officially opened in 1960 with its first airfield, at which time it was able to handle aircraft the size of a Douglas DC-3 on a 1,800 m (5,906 ft) long runway made of compacted sand. Three turning-areas, an apron and small terminal completed the airport that was constructed by Costain.
In May 1963, construction of a 9,200 ft (2,804 m) asphalt runway started. This new runway, alongside the original sand runway and taxiway opened in May 1965, together with several new extensions were added to the Terminal Building, hangars erected, Airport and Navigational aids were installed. The installation of the lighting system continued after official opening and was completed in August of that year. During the second half of the 1960s several extensions, equipment upgrades like a VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) and an instrument landing system (ILS) as well as new buildings were constructed. By 1969, the airport was served by 9 airlines serving some 20 destinations.
The inauguration was on 15 May 1966 and was marked by the visits of the first big jets of Middle East Airlines and Kuwait Airways Comets.
The advent of wide body aircraft required further airport development in the 1970s, which had already been foreseen by the Ruler of Dubai, and plans for a new Terminal, runways, and taxiways capable of coping with international flights were drawn up. The construction of a new terminal building consisting of a three-story building 110 m (360 ft) long and included an enclosed floor area of 13,400 m2 (144,000 sq ft). A new 28 m (92 ft) control tower was also constructed.
Expansion continued in the early 1970s including ILS Category II equipment, lengthening existing runway to 12,500 ft (3,810 m), installation of a non-directional beacon (NDB), diesel generators, taxiways, etc. This work made handling the Boeing 747 and Concorde possible. Several runway and apron extensions were carried out through the decade to meet growing demand.
1971 saw the new precision category 2 Approach and Runway Lighting System being commissioned. The construction of the Airport Fire Station and the installation of the generators were completed in December of that year and was fully operational in March 1972. The ruler also commissioned and inaugurated the Long-range Surveillance System on 19 June 1973.
With the expansion of the Airport Fire Services it was necessary to find more suitable accommodation and a hangar style building was made available to them at the end of 1976. This was located midway between the runway ends to facilitate efficient operations. A new building was also constructed to house the Airport Maintenance Engineer, Electronics Engineering section and Stores unit.
Expansion of the Airport Restaurant and Transit Lounge including the refurbishing of the upper level and the provision of a new kitchen was completed in December 1978.
The next phase of development was the second runway, which was completed three months ahead of schedule and opened in April 1984. This runway, located 360 m (1,180 ft) north of the existing runway and parallel to it and is equipped with the latest meteorological, airfield lighting and instrument landing systems to give the airport a Category II classification.
Also several extensions and upgrades of terminal facilities and supporting systems were carried out. On 23 December 1980 the airport became an ordinary member of the Airports Council International (ACI).
During the 1980s, Dubai was a stopping point for airlines such as Air India, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and others travelling between Asia and Europe that needed a refuelling point in the Persian Gulf. This use was later made redundant with the availability of Russian airspace due to the breakup of the Soviet Union and the advent of longer-range aircraft introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s such as the Airbus A340, the Boeing 747-400 and the Boeing 777 series aircraft, which had the range to fly between Europe and Southeast Asia nonstop.
The advent of wide body aircraft required further airport development in the 1970s, which had already been foreseen by the Ruler of Dubai, and plans for a new Terminal, runways, and taxiways capable of coping with international flights were drawn up. The construction of a new terminal building consisting of a three-story building 110 m (360 ft) long and included an enclosed floor area of 13,400 m2 (144,000 sq ft). A new 28 m (92 ft) control tower was also constructed.
Expansion continued in the early 1970s including ILS Category II equipment, lengthening existing runway to 12,500 ft (3,810 m), installation of a non-directional beacon (NDB), diesel generators, taxiways, etc. This work made handling the Boeing 747 and Concorde possible. Several runway and apron extensions were carried out through the decade to meet growing demand.
1971 saw the new precision category 2 Approach and Runway Lighting System being commissioned. The construction of the Airport Fire Station and the installation of the generators were completed in December of that year and was fully operational in March 1972. The ruler also commissioned and inaugurated the Long-range Surveillance System on 19 June 1973.
With the expansion of the Airport Fire Services it was necessary to find more suitable accommodation and a hangar style building was made available to them at the end of 1976. This was located midway between the runway ends to facilitate efficient operations. A new building was also constructed to house the Airport Maintenance Engineer, Electronics Engineering section and Stores unit.
Expansion of the Airport Restaurant and Transit Lounge including the refurbishing of the upper level and the provision of a new kitchen was completed in December 1978.
The next phase of development was the second runway, which was completed three months ahead of schedule and opened in April 1984. This runway, located 360 m (1,180 ft) north of the existing runway and parallel to it and is equipped with the latest meteorological, airfield lighting and instrument landing systems to give the airport a Category II classification.
Also several extensions and upgrades of terminal facilities and supporting systems were carried out. On 23 December 1980 the airport became an ordinary member of the Airports Council International (ACI).
During the 1980s, Dubai was a stopping point for airlines such as Air India, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and others travelling between Asia and Europe that needed a refuelling point in the Persian Gulf. This use was later made redundant with the availability of Russian airspace due to the breakup of the Soviet Union and the advent of longer-range aircraft introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s such as the Airbus A340, the Boeing 747-400 and the Boeing 777 series aircraft, which had the range to fly between Europe and Southeast Asia nonstop.
Dubai International Airport Expansion
The opening of Terminal 2 in 1998 saw the first step of phase 1 of the new development master plan launched in 1997. As the second stage, Concourse 1 opened in April 2000 under the name of Sheikh Rashid Terminal. The concourse is 0.8 km (0.50 mi) in length and connects to the check-in area by a 0.3 km (0.19 mi) underground tunnel containing moving walkways (conveyor belt/travelators). It also contains a hotel, business centre, health club, exchanges, dining and entertainment facilities, internet services, medical centre, post office and a prayer room. The next step was the reconfiguration of the runways, already part of phase 2, and aprons and taxiways were expanded and strengthened in 2003–2004. In addition, the Dubai Flower Centre opened in 2005 as part of the development. The airport saw the need for this as the city is a hub for import and export of flowers and the airport required a specialist facility since flowers need special conditions.
Construction of Terminal 3 began in 2004 as the next stage of phase 2 of the development, with an estimated cost of around $4.55 billion. Completion was originally planned for 2006, but was delayed by two years.
On 30 May 2008, a topping out ceremony was conducted. The terminal became operational on 14 October 2008, with Emirates Airline (EK2926) from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, being the first flight to arrive at the new terminal and EK843 to Doha, Qatar being the first departing flight. The terminal increased the airport's maximum passenger capacity annually by 47 million, bringing the total annual capacity up to 75 million passengers.
On 29 October 2010, the airport marked its 50th anniversary. The airport has seen over 402 million passengers at an average annual growth rate of 15.5% and handled over 3.87 million aircraft at an average annual growth rate of 12.4%.
With the arrival of the Airbus A380, the airport made modifications costing $230 million. These included the building of 29 gates capable of handling the large aircraft, five of which are in Terminal 3 and two are in Terminal 1. Other important projects at the airport include the next stage of the phase 2 development, which includes the construction of Concourse 3. This will be a smaller version of Concourse 2, which is connected to Terminal 3.
Also as part of the expansion, the airport is now able to handle at least 75 million (an increase of 19 million) passengers per annum with the opening of Concourse 3, which is part of Terminal 3. However, recent communications predict a further increase to 80 million passengers with additional reassessments of existing capacities. In 2009, Terminal 2 expanded its facilities to handle 5 million (an increase of 2 million) passengers annually, taking the airport's total capacity to 62 million passengers. The Department of Civil Aviation has said that Terminal 2 will be continuously upgraded and expanded to bring the total capacity of the airport from the initial 75 million passengers to 80 million passenger capacity by 2012.
The Cargo Mega Terminal, which will have the capacity to handle 3 million tonnes of cargo a year, is a major development; it is going to be built in the long term. Completion of the Mega terminal will be no later than 2018. Terminal 2 will be completely redeveloped to match the status of the other two terminals. With all of these projects completed by 2013, the airport expects to be able of handling at least 75–80 million passengers and over 5 million tonnes of cargo.
The airport's landside facilities were modified to allow construction of two stations for the Red Line of Dubai Metro. One station was built at Terminal 1 and the other at Terminal 3. The line began service on 9 September 2009, and opened in phases over the next year.[31] The second Metro line, the Green Line, runs near the Airport Free Zone and has served the airport's north-eastern area with the Terminal 2 starting in September 2011.
The proposed 52 km (32 mi) Purple Line will link Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport, which is currently being built at Jebel Ali.
With phase 2 of DXB's expansion plan complete, the airport now has three terminals and three concourses, two cargo mega terminals, an airport free zone,[34] an expo centre with three large exhibition halls, a major aircraft maintenance hub and a flower centre to handle perishable goods.[30] A phase 3 which has been included in the master-plan involves the construction of a new Concourse 4.
The airport revealed its future plans in May 2011, which involve construction of a new Concourse D for all airlines currently operating from concourse C. Concourse D is expected to bring the total capacity of the airport to over 90 million passengers and will open in early 2016. The plan also involves Emirates solely operating from Concourse C along with Concourse A and B.
In September 2012, Dubai Airports changed the names of concourses to make it easier for passengers to navigate the airport. Concourse 1, in which over 100 international airlines operate, became Concourse C. Concourse 2 became Concourse B and Concourse 3 became Concourse A. The gates in Terminal 2 were changed and are now numbered F1 to F6. The remaining alpha-numeric sequences are being reserved for future airport facilities that are part of the Dubai Airports' $7.8 billion expansion programme, including Concourse D.
The proposed 52 km (32 mi) Purple Line will link Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport, which is currently being built at Jebel Ali.
With phase 2 of DXB's expansion plan complete, the airport now has three terminals and three concourses, two cargo mega terminals, an airport free zone,[34] an expo centre with three large exhibition halls, a major aircraft maintenance hub and a flower centre to handle perishable goods.[30] A phase 3 which has been included in the master-plan involves the construction of a new Concourse 4.
The airport revealed its future plans in May 2011, which involve construction of a new Concourse D for all airlines currently operating from concourse C. Concourse D is expected to bring the total capacity of the airport to over 90 million passengers and will open in early 2016. The plan also involves Emirates solely operating from Concourse C along with Concourse A and B.
In September 2012, Dubai Airports changed the names of concourses to make it easier for passengers to navigate the airport. Concourse 1, in which over 100 international airlines operate, became Concourse C. Concourse 2 became Concourse B and Concourse 3 became Concourse A. The gates in Terminal 2 were changed and are now numbered F1 to F6. The remaining alpha-numeric sequences are being reserved for future airport facilities that are part of the Dubai Airports' $7.8 billion expansion programme, including Concourse D.
Dubai International Airport Masterplan
Dubai's government has announced the construction of a new airport in Jebel Ali, named Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum International Airport. It is expected to be the second largest airport in the world by physical size, though not by passenger metrics. It opened 27 June 2010, however, construction is not expected to finish until 2017. The airport is expected to be able to accommodate up to 160 million passengers. There has been an official plan to build the Dubai Metro Purple Line to connect Al Maktoum International Airport to Dubai International Airport; construction was set to begin in 2012. Since then, there have been rumours that the Purple Line is being postponed or even cancelled.
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