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Dubai International Airport

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Dubai International Airport

مطار دبي الدولي
File:Dubai logo.png
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Dubai
OperatorDepartment of Civil Aviation
ServesDubai, United Arab Emirates
Elevation AMSL62 ft / 19 m
Coordinates25°15′10″N 055°21′52″E / 25.25278°N 55.36444°E / 25.25278; 55.36444
Websitewww.dubaiairport.com
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12L/30R 4,000 13,124 Asphalt
12R/30L 4,000 13,124 Asphalt
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft Movements260,530
Passengers37,441,440
Terminals4
Passenger statistics from Airports Council International[1]
other statistics from Dubai International Airport[2]

Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB, ICAO: OMDB) (Template:Lang-ar) is an international airport serving Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates. It is a major aviation hub in the Middle East, and is the main airport of Dubai[3]. It is situated in the Garhoud district, 4km (2.5 miles) southeast of Dubai.[4]

The airport was built at a cost of some US$5.5 billion and can handle 60 million passengers and 2.1 million tonnes of cargo a year[5][6] and is expanding to accommodate over 80 million passengers by 2011. When the full expansion program will be completed by 2011, and the airport will have three terminals and three concourses, two cargo mega terminals, an airport free zone, an expo centre with three large exhibition halls, a major aircraft maintenance hub and a flower centre to handle perishable goods. [7]

In 2008, the airport was the 20th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic and 11th busiest by cargo traffic. The airport also was the 6th busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. [8]

The airport is operated by the Department of Civil Aviation and is the home base of Dubai's international airline, Emirates Airline and Emirates SkyCargo; the Emirates hub is the largest airline hub in the Middle East and Africa and handles 60% of all passenger traffic at the airport, however only handles 37% of all aircraft movements at the airport. It is also a hub for Flydubai. In addition, it serves as a secondary hub for the Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways, and a focus city for Singapore Airlines.

Other smaller passenger and cargo airlines use the airport as a hub and these include Dolphin Air, Falcon Express Cargo Airlines and Iranian career Aria Air. Airlines with secondary hubs at the airport include Royal Jordanian, British Gulf International Airlines, Iran Aseman Airlines, airblue, Iran Air and African Express Airways. It is a focus city for a number of airlines including; Singapore Airlines, Yemenia, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines, and Jubba Airways. As of March 2009, there are about 4,900 weekly flights operated by 125 airlines to over 200 destinations across North America, Europe, South America, East Asia, Southwest Asia, South Asia, Australasia, and Africa.[citation needed]

Dubai International Airport will be complemented by Al Maktoum International Airport (Dubai World Central International Airport), a new 140 km2 (54 sq mi) airport that will help handle the influx of travellers well into the future.

In 2008, the airport handled a record 37,441,440 passengers,[1] a 9.7% increase over the 2007 total. This made it the 20th busiest airport in the world and, with 36,592,307 international passengers, the 6th busiest international airport in the world, in terms of international passenger traffic, a 9.3% increase of international passengers from 2007.

In addition to being an important passenger traffic hub, the airport is one of the busiest cargo airports in the world, handling 1.824 million tonnes of cargo in 2008, making it the 11th busiest airport in the world, a 9.4% increase of cargo traffic since 2007 .

The new $4.5 billion Terminal 3 opened on 14 October 2008, and Terminal 2 will be upgraded. Concourse 3 is also part of Terminal 3, and is expected to be completed by 2011. Terminal 3 will add 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) and is the single largest building in the world by floor space.[9]

History

File:Dubai Airport Circa 1959 Model Pict 1.jpg
A model of Dubai Airport as it looked in 1959
Operations and Statistics
Interior of Dubai International Airport, 23 September 2007
Interior of Dubai International Airport, 23 September 2007
Passenger movements
1998 9,732,202 2004 21,711,883
1999 10,754,824 2005 40,740,000
2000 24,782,288 2006 28,788,726
2001 13,508,073 2007 34,340,000
2002 15,973,391 2008 37,441,440
2003 18,062,344
Airfreight movements in tonnes
1998 431,777 2004 1,111,647
1999 474,779 2005 1,333,014
2000 562,591 2006 1,410,963
2001 610,867 2007 1,668,505
2002 764,193 2008 1,824,991
2003 928,758
Aircraft movements
1998 123,352 2004 195,820
1999 132,708 2005 217,165
2000 141,281 2006 237,258
2001 134,165 2007 N/A
2002 148,334 2008 260,530
2003 168,511
Capacity
Passenger (current) 37,000,000
Passenger (ultimate) 62,000,000
Cargo (current) 1.8m tonnes
Cargo (ultimate) 2.1m tonnes
Apron (current) 56
Number of destinations
International (air) +200
International (water) 0
Number of Airlines
International 125

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. Construction of the airport was ordered by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in 1959. It officially opened in 1960, 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.[10] 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 buildings and extension of the terminal. 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.

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.

File:Dubai Airport Circa 1959 Model Pict 2.jpg
A model of the airport in 1959

In April 1984, a second runway was opened and several extensions and upgrades of terminal facilities and supporting systems were carried out. On 23 December 1980 the airport became ordinary member of the Airports Council International (ACI).[11]

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 made redundant with 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.

Expansion and developments

File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 hall d accueil.jpg
Terminal 3

Under the Dubai International Airport Masterplan, reassessment of the runway system and developing of the taxiways was done as phase 1. Phase 2 has a total investment of around $4.5 Billion, and construction began in 2002. For phase 2 of the masterplan, a new terminal building was constructed to accommodate the increasing number of passengers, bringing tha capacity of 33 million passengers a year (with 30 million and 3 million of Terminal 1 and 2 respectively), to at least 60 million (Increase27 Million) passengers per year by the end of 2008. This was phase 2, the construction of Terminal 3 and Concourse 2. [12]

Also part of phase 2, the airport will expand to handle at least 75 - 80 million (Increase15 million) passengers per annum with the opening of concourse 3 which will be part of Terminal 3. Though, recent communications predicts a further increase to 80 million passengers with additional reassessments of existing capacities. [13]

In addition, also part of the phase 2 development was the opening of the Dubai Flower Centre. The airport saw the need for this as the city is a flower hub for import and export of flowers and the airport required a specialist facility since these products need special conditions.

Apron's and taxiways were also expanded Taxiways were strengthened. In addition, work on other taxiways in the area was expanded in order to complete the work associated with the newly commissioned second runway.

In 2009, Terminal 2 expanded its facilities to handle 5 million (Increase2 million) passengers annually, taking the airport's total capacity to 62 million passengers. The Department of Civil Aviation has also said that Terminal 2 will continuosly be uprgraded and expanded to bring the total capacity of the airport from the intial 75 million passengers to 80 million passenger capacity by 2011.

Construction of Terminal 3 began in 2004, with an estimated cost of around $4.55 billion. Originally planned for completion in 2006, the date was delayed by two years.

On 30 May 2008, a topping out ceremony for the terminal 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 being the first departing flight. The terminal increases the airport's maximum passenger capacity annually by 43 million, bringing the total annual capacity up to 60 million passengers.

Emirates aircraft taxiing to the runway

With the arrival of the Airbus A380, the airport put into place modifications works costing $230 million. These included the building of 29 gates capable of handling the large aircraft, five of which are in Terminal 3, and 2 which are in Terminal 1. Other important projects at the airport include the next stage of the phase 2 develoment, which includes the the construction of Concourse 3. This will be a smaller version of Concourse 2, which is connected to Terminal 3. Construction has already begun and is expected to be completed within two years, with plans to open by late 2011.

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 for the Mega terminal is expected to 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 2012, the airport expects to handle over at least 75-80 million passengers and over 5 million tonnes of cargo. [14]

The airport will also undergo an expansion to allow two stations of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro to be built within the complex. One station will be constructed in Terminal 1 and the other in Terminal 3. The line is expected to be fully operational on 9. September, 2009.

Phase Year Description
Phase 1[15] 1998 Initial Capacity of 11 million Passenger Per Annum
2000 Capable of handling 27 million passengers per annum with the construction of Concourse 1, Sheikh Rashid Terminal
Phase 2[16]
2003 Taxiways were strengthened. In addition, work on other taxiways in the area was expanded in order to complete the work associated with the newly commissioned second runway.
2004 Construction of Dubai Flower Centre completed.
2008 New VIP Pavillion for the Dubai Royal Wing opens in July
2008 Capable of handling 60 million Passengers per annum with the opening of Terminal 3 - Concourse 2
2011 New Concourse 3 constructed, enabling the airport to have a capacity of 75 million passengers, with further improvements 80 million is possible [17]
2018 Capable of handling 3 million million tons of freight per annum with the construction of a part of Cargo Mega Terminal.
Phase 3 Not fixed Terminal 4 will be constructed.
Genral Expansion 2004 - 2008 Includes construction of Emirates Flight Catering Centre, Emirates Engineering Facility, and Dubai Flower Centre.
2007 Opening of Emirates Flight Catering Centre, capable of producing 115,000 meals per day.
2007 Opening of Emirates Engineering Facility - largest aircraft hangars in the world.
2009 Capable of handling 62 million passengers per annum with the expansion and refurbishment of Terminal 2[18]

Dubai's government has announced the construction of a new airport in Jebel Ali termed Al Maktoum International Airport. It is expected upon completion to be the fourth largest airport in the world by physical size, though not by passenger metrics. Construction is expected to finish by the year 2017. On completion, the airport is expected to be able to accommodate up to 120 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 is set to begin in 2012. Their have been rumours that the purple line is on hold, or even cancelled.

Growth in traffic at Dubai International Airport
Airlines 1998 2002 2006
Passenger movements 9.732 million 15.973 million 28.788 million (2006)
Airfreight movements 431,777 tonnes 764,193 tonnes 1.410 million tonnes

(2006)

City links 110 170 >215 (June 2006)
Weekly scheduled flights About 2,300 About 2,850 >4,550 (June 2006)

Air traffic

Main airlines based at DXB

McDonalds at Terminal 3
  • Emirates Airline is the largest airline operating at the airport, with an all-widebody fleet of over 100 Airbus and Boeing aircraft based at Dubai, providing scheduled services to the rest of the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe, Africa and North America.
  • Emirates SkyCargo, a subsidiary of Emirates, operates scheduled all-cargo services between Dubai and the rest of the world.
  • FlyDubai is a new airline planning to operate over 50 aircraft on scheduled passenger services to and from Dubai, to the rest of the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.

Recreational flying to Dubai is catered for by the Dubai Aviation Club, which undertakes flying training for private pilots and provides facilities for private owners.[citation needed]

The Government of Dubai provides short and long range search and rescue services, police support, medical evacuation and general purpose flights for the airport and all VIP flights to the airport.[citation needed]

Infrastructure

Infrastructure[19]
Airline fleet at Dubai International Airport
Taxiways
Length 25,300 m (83,000 ft)
Width 30 m (98 ft)
Passenger terminal buildings
Total
Floor area 2,036,020 m2 (21,915,500 sq ft)
Handling capacity c. 62 million passengers[20]
Parking bays 118 (aerobridge)
17 (contact)
63 (remote)
Terminal One
Opened 1 April 2000 (operational)
Floor area 515,020 m2 (5,543,600 sq ft)
Handling capacity 30 million passengers
Parking bays 47 (aerobridge)
17 (remote)
Terminal Two
Opened May 1 1998 (operational)
Floor area 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft)
Handling capacity 5 million passengers
Parking bays 8 (aerobridge)
21 (remote)
Terminal Three (Concourse 2)
Opened 14 November 2008 (operational)
Floor area 1,500,000 m2 (16,000,000 sq ft)
Handling capacity 27million passengers
Parking bays 63 (aerobridge)
(Concourse 3)
Opened 2011(operational)
Floor area 528,000 m2 (5,680,000 sq ft)
Handling capacity 18 million passengers
Parking bays 27(aerobridge)
Terminal Four
Opened To Be Confirmed
Floor area To Be Confirmed}
Handling capacity To Be Confirmed
Parking bays To Be Confirmed
VIP Terminal
Opened 16 November 2008 (operational)
Floor area 5,500 m2 (59,000 sq ft)
Handling capacity 100,000 passengers
Parking bays 10 (contact)
File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 interieur apres securite.jpg
Entrance to Concourse 2

Because land was scarce, Dubai International Airport was conceptualised to function as Dubai's primary airport and the region's busiest for the foreseeable future without the need for relocation or the building of another airport when passenger figures increased.

The original master plan for the existing airport initially involved a dual-terminal and one runway configuration over two phases with provisions for another two passenger terminals in the near future. Phase 1 included the construction for the first passenger terminal, the first runway, 70 aircraft parking bays, support facilities and structures, including a large maintenance hangar, the first fire station, workshops and administrative offices, an airfreight complex, two cargo agents' buildings, in-flight catering kitchens and a 78 m (256 ft) control tower. Construction for the second phase would commence immediately after the completion of Phase 1 and include the second runway, 50 new aircraft parking bays in addition to the existing 70 bays, a second fire station and a third cargo agent building.

The third phase included construction of a new terminal (today Terminal 1's main building's parts and Concourse 1) and an additional 60 parking bays, as well as new aircraft maintenance facility. then, in the early 2000's a new master plan was introduced.

Air traffic control tower

The air traffic control tower (ATC) was constructed as part of phase two of the then-development plan.

Terminals

File:Dubai International airport interior.jpg
Terminal 1

Dubai International Airport has four terminals altogether. Terminal 1 has one concourse, Terminal 2 is set apart from the other two main buildings and Terminal 3 is divided into Concourse 2 and 3. The cargo terminal is capable of handling 3 million tonnes of cargo annually and a general aviation terminal (GAT) is located close by.

Passenger terminals

E-gate counters, at Passport Control. The new system was introduced to make access into the UAE easier.

Dubai Airport currently has three passenger terminals. Terminals 1 and 3 are directly connected with a common transit area, with airside passengers being able to move freely between the terminals without going through immigration, whilst Terminal 2 is built on the opposite end of the airport. For transiting passengers, a shuttle service runs between the terminals, with a journey time of around 20 minutes to Terminal 1 and 30 minutes to Terminal 3.

Situated beside Terminal 2 is the Executive Flights Terminal, which has its own check-in facilities for premium passengers and where transportation to aircraft in any of the other terminals is by personal buggy.

All four terminals currently have a handling capacity of around 62 million passengers a year spread over an area of 225,020 m2 (2,422,100 sq ft). Capacity will rise again to at least 75 million passengers a year when expansion works to Concourse 3 are complete by early 2011.

Dubai Airport, with all four terminals, now caters to a full spectrum of passengers. Terminal 2 is for cost-conscious passengers and passengers flying to the sub-continent and Persian Gulf region; Terminals 1 and 3 take care of 90% of the travelers; and the Executive Flights terminal targets those who are higher end travellers and important guests.

Terminal 1

The Terminal 1 has an overall capacity of 30 million passengers. It is used by 125 airlines. It is connected to Concourse 1, the so-called, 1 km (0.62 mi) long Sheikh Rashid Terminal by an underground, 300 m (980 ft) long tunnel. Terminal 1 offers 221 check in counters, with a separate section for first and business class passengers. In arrivals there are 40 passport control desks and 14 baggage claims belts.

Dubai Airport uses Neoplan Buses to transport passengers from the 28 remote gates in Terminal 1 to the aircraft

The Terminal was orginally built to handle 21 million passengers, however with the extreme over congestion at the terminal, the airport was forced to expand the terminal to 30 million with the opening of 28 remote gates, Increase9 million. Over the years, more mobile gates were added to the airport.

Concourse 1

Concourse 1, part of Terminal 1, is currently used by all 125 international airlines operating at Dubai International Airport. Opened in 2000, it used to be the main part of Dubai Airport before Terminal 3 opened. It incorporates over 66 gates, including 32 air bridges and 28 remote gates located at a lower level of the terminal. The gates are labelled 101 - 160 in Terminal 1. Current facilities include restaurants, lounges, a 5 star hotel, a business centre, a health club, a 5,400 m2 (58,000 sq ft) duty-free shopping facility. Other facilities include prayer rooms, and a medical centre.[21]

File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 hall d accueil (2).jpg
Terminal 3 check-in halls
File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 hall interieur.jpg
Concourse 2 - Terminal 3
File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 exterieur.jpg
Entrance to Terminal 3

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 was built in 1998 and has a capacity of 5 million as of 2009, after several, decent reconstructions. It is mainly used by smaller airlines operating in the Gulf region. Most flights operate to Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The terminal was also being expanded as in recent years it has become extremely congested and overcrowded, used by over 25 airlines and offering 22 check in counters. In June 2009, Terminal 2 is going to be the main hub of flydubai, which will fly to destinations within a 4.5 hour radius from Dubai.

Terminal 2 has undergone a major refurbishment recently, extending check-in and boarding facilities, changing the interior and exterior décor and offering more dining choices to passengers. Capacity was increased to 5 million, Increase2 million. [22] The terminal has now increased the number of facilities available to passenegers. Check-in counters have increased to 36. The boarding area has been transformed into a more spacious seating area, with more natural light. Also the new open boarding gates allow several flights to board simultaneously, considerably improving both passenger and aircraft movements.

The Dubai duty-free shopping area covers 1,400 m2 (15,000 sq ft) in Departures and 50 square metres in Arrivals. The 3,437 square metre extension included a larger arrivals hall as well. [23]

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 is the largest building in the world by floor space, with over 1,500,000 m2 (370 acres) of space, currently capable to handle 27 million passangers in a year. Once fully operational, Terminal 3 will have an annual capacity of 43 million passengers. A large part is located under the taxiway area and is directly connected to Concourse 2: the departure and arrival halls in the new structure are 10 m (33 ft) beneath the airport's apron. It is operational since 14 October, 2008, opened in four phases to avoid collapse of baggage handling and other IT systems.

Inside Terminal 3, there are 82 moving walkways, 97 escalators, eight skytrains and 157 lifts. [24] [25]

The building includes a multi level underground structure, first and business class lounges, restaurants, 180 check-in counters and 2,600 car-parking spaces. The terminal offers more than the double of prevoius retail area, by adding about 4,800 m2 (52,000 sq ft) and Concourse 2's 10,700 m2 (115,000 sq ft) of shopping facilities. [26]

The terminal itself contains 52 immigration counters, 14 baggage carousels, and 12 e-gates (Electronic Passport Control System used at all entry point into the United Arab Emirates.[27]

Concourse 2

File:Aeroprt de dubai terminal 3 arrivee.jpg
Arrival halls
Self check-in

Concourse 2 is directly connected to terminal 3, and is a 950 m (3,120 ft) long concourse that is dedicated exclusively to Emirates Airline. The building currently includes a multi-level structure for departures and arrivals at Dubai Airport and includes 32 jet bridges, labelled 201 - 232.

Also there is a direct connection to Sheikh Rashid Terminal (Concourse 1) located at the control tower structure through passenger walkways. There is also a 300-room hotel and health club including both five and four star rooms. Concourse 2 includes five aerobridges that are capable of handling the new Airbus A380.

Concourse 3

Concourse 3 will be a smaller version of Concourse 2 (650 m (2,130 ft)) and will have 20 contact gates, of which 18 will be exclusively for the Airbus A380. It will also be connected to the public levels of Terminal 3 with an automated people mover and a service tunnel as well, for further baggage transfer. Construction began in early 2008, and is expected to be completed by late 2011, handling an additional 15 million passengers a year. [28]

Terminal 4

Planning has begun to bring on Terminal 4 at Dubai International Airport, it was revealed on the day Emirates completed its phased operations at the new Terminal 3, on 14 November 2008.

According to Dubai Airport officials plans for Terminal 4 had begun and extensions would be made to Terminal 3. The CEO of the airport, Paul Griffiths was reported to have said, that the airport currently have 290 million dirhams that will be spent over the next two years on terminals 1, 2 and 3, making sure they are running to full capacity. The airport is planning to service 70 - 80 million passengers a year by 2013.[29]

VIP Terminal

Emirates aircraft parked infront of the Emirates SkyCargo building

The VIP Terminal opened on November 17 2008, and caters to all famous figures to sport stars, businessmen, as well as large corporate entities. The terminal is located close to Terminal 2, includes a 5,500 square-metre two-storey main building, a 3,700 square metre hangar, a 3,700 square metre ramp area for aircraft parking, and a special VIP car park for long term parking. The new facility makes EFC the largest dedicated business aviation terminal in the Middle East.

The terminal also has its own dedicated immigration and customs areas, a Dubai Duty Free outlet, a fully equipped business/conference centre, eight luxury private lounges, and a limousine service between the aircraft and the terminal. Passengers arriving into the Terminal can also book for a dedicated VIP car. [30]

Cargo Mega Terminal

The cargo village at Dubai International Airport is one of the world's largest and most central cargo hubs, with most of the cargo for Asia and Africa coming through the facility. Forecasts in 2004 for cargo growth predicted that additional major cargo handling facilities were needed to satisfy demands. Plans were put in progress to construct the first stage of the cargo mega terminal, which by 2018 will have the ability to handle three million tons of freight. Phase 1 of the cargo mega terminal was completed by 2004 and the next phase of expansion was scheduled for completion in late 2007. Prsently the airport hasa a cargo capacity of 2.1 million tonnes, and will be expanded to handle 3 million.

Flower Centre

Dubai airport believed it was neccesary for the contruction of a flower centre to handle flower imports and exports, as Dubai is a major hub for the import and export of flowers and the airport required a specialist facility since these products need special conditions. The flower centre's first phase was completed in 2004 at a cost of $50 million.

The flower centre is not yet finished and construction will continue in another two phases. The centre will offer an enhanced level of automation over a five to seven year period for processing flower products. It will begin with a semi-automated system with manual sorting before eventually becoming fully automated.

The centre when completed and functioning will have a floor area of approximately 100,000m² including different export chambers and offices. The handling capacity of the centre is expected to be more than 300,000 tonnes of product throughput per annum. The entire facility (with the exception of the offices) will be maintained at an ambient temperature of just 2°C to 4°C.

Runways

File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 aile.jpg
Terminal 3 increased capacity at the airport to 60 million passengers a year

The further expansion and the construction of Concourse 3 should increase this cqapacity to over 75 million passengers annually. Dubai Airport has two parallel runways, 12R/30L and 12L/30R, each 60 m (200 ft) wide. The runways are equipped with four sets of ILS to guide landing aircraft safely under very bad weather condition. The runways was recently expanded to accommodate the Airbus A380 and have achieved CAT III B approval recently. [31]

Taxiways were also strengthened as part of the phase 2 development. Although most think this is unnecessary. In addition, work on other taxiways in the area was expanded in order to complete the work associated with the newly commissioned second runway.

Accommodating the Airbus A380

With Dubai-based Emirates Airline being one of the launch customers for the Airbus A380 and also the largest customer, Dubai airport needed to expand its existing facilities to accommodate the very large aircraft. The Civil Aviation Authority of Dubai spent $120 million in upgrading the two of its terminals and airport infrastructure, including enlarged gate holdrooms, new finger piers, enlarged runway, new airbridges and extended baggage belt carousels from the normal 70 to 90 m (230 to 300 ft).

Dubai airport is also investing $3.5 billion into a new Concourse 3, exclusively for handling Emirates Airline A380's. This is expected to be completed by 2011.

With these new carousels in place, the airport does not expect embarking and disembarking passengers and baggage from the A380 to take longer than it does for Boeing 747-400s, which carry significantly fewer passengers. On 16 July 2008, Dubai Airport unveiled the first of 5 specially-built gates capable of handling the giant aircraft. Costing $10 million, the gates or 'fingers' enable passengers to get on the upper cabin of the new 555-seater aircraft directly from the gate hold rooms. The hold rooms themselves have been enlarged and appointed to cater for the larger number of passengers flying the A380s. Beside the 5 new gates at Terminal 1, eight more A380-capable gates were opened at Terminal 3 on 14 November 2008.

Services

Ground handling of Emirates Airline, Airbus A330
Emirates Flight Catering

Aviation Services

Ground handling

Ground handling services at Dubai International Airport has been provided by Dnata Ground Handling Services.

Services include cargo ramp and technical support services to airlines at Dubai Airport.

Aircraft maintenance

Emirates Engineering, based in Dubai, operates the aircraft maintenance and engine test cell technical facilities at the airport. Emirates Engineering currently provides full support for the Emirates Airline fleet and all the other international operations at the airport.

Current facilities include:

  • Seven aircraft hangars all capable of handling the A380 (currently the largest aircraft hangar in the world)
  • Aircraft painting hangar
  • Aircraft processing plant
  • Aircraft engine run-up facility enclosure
  • Engineering Line Maintenance facility
  • Engine Test Cell
  • Aircraft spare parts stores

Safety and security

File:Aeroport de dubai terminal 3 securite.jpg
Airport Security

The Civil Aviation Authority of Dubai manages the overall safety and security of the airport. Pre-screening takes place in all terminals at the entrance of the airport.

In 2005, an upgrade in screening technology and rising security concerns led to luggage-screening processes being conducted behind closed doors, as opposed to them being done just before check-in previously within public view. Carry-on luggage and personal screening are conducted at the individual departure gates, while check-in luggage are screened in the backrooms and secured before loading. Dubai Airport Police plans to introduce a biometric identification system for access into restricted areas.

In view of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, security screening checks have been stepped up on passengers and their hand-carry luggage, as well as checked-in luggage on flights bound for destinations in the United Kingdom and the United States from Dubai.

In early 2007, Dubai Airport introduced a new type of airport screening device which not only detected weapons, but also could screen the passenger for drugs in the blood. With the new system in place, travellers entering Dubai can be jailed for 4 years or more if found in possession (including in the bloodstream and the bottom of the shoes[32]) of illegal drugs (even in quantities as small as 0.001g), including poppy seeds from bread rolls and prescription and over-the-counter medicines such as codeine.[33][34] Dubai is now known for having many Legal Dangers for travellers. A senior Dubai judge was quoted on February 11, 2008, by the Dubai City News saying, "These laws help discourage anyone from carrying or using drugs. Even if the amount of illegal drugs found on someone is 0.05 grams, they will be found guilty. The penalty is a minimum four years .[35]

Operations

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