Dubai International Airport -Dubai International Airport is the international airport serving Dubai. The airport is a hub to Dubai’s international airline, Emirates. Dubai International Airport has experienced extraordinary growth in the number of passengers, total freight, and total aircraft movements over the past decade. From 1997 to 2006, the number of annual passengers increased by 316%. Dubai International Airport, is currently used by 113 airlines for 165 connections around the world, and is estimated to overtake Heathrow Airport in passenger traffic by 2011 at the current growth rate. The Airport is currently undergoing a major expansion with the construction of Terminal 3 and new 60 metre wide and longer runway. This expansion will make the airport fully Airbus A380 compatible. The Dubai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) authorities says Dubai International Airport would be capable of handling 70 million passengers when the current $4.1 billion expansion involving the construction of Concourse 2 and 3, along with the new underground Terminal 3 is complete. The airport will also undergo an expansion to allow two stations of the Green 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 Metro system is not expected to be fully operational until 2010.

Dubai Duty Free - There seems to be no stopping Dubai Duty Free. Consistent high sales during its 22 years of exceptional growth have helped it to become firmly established as one of the world’s travel retail giants. Currently ranked No3 in the world in terms of turnover, record sales year on year have long been the hallmark of Dubai Duty Free, with half-year sales reaching an impressive US$323 million in 2006, representing a 15 per cent increase on 2005, and annual sales expected to top US$670 million. The range and quality of goods available at Dubai Duty Free is second to none, perfect for gifts and must-have items whether you are leaving or arriving in Dubai. The spacious shop floor layout is customer friendly and excellent service and value-for-money ensures that Dubai Duty Free is one of the best-known duty free operations in the world. You really will not want to get on that plane! In recognition of its success, 2006 has seen the operation continue to be a regular award winner, and it scooped the Business Traveller Middle East award for Duty Free Shopping for a fifth consecutive year. Construction is already well underway on the new Concourse at Dubai International Airport, which will expand the Duty Free retail area by a further 8,000 square metres and is due for completion next year.

Dubai World Central International Airport - Dubai International Airport will be complemented by Dubai World Central International Airport (DWCIP), a new 140 kms airport that will help handle the influx of travellers well into the future. The new airport in Jebel Ali, south of Dubai, 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. It will be the main part of Dubai World Central, a planned residential, commercial and logistics complex scheme. World Central will be the world’s first truly integrated logistics platform, with all transport modes, logistics and value added services, including manufacturing and assembly, in a single bonded and Free Zone environment. At the heart of this huge new community is the Dubai World Central International Airport, the world’s largest passenger and cargo hub, ten times larger than Dubai International Airport and Dubai Cargo Village combined. The airport will have an annual cargo capacity of 12 million tons, more than three times that of Memphis, today’s largest cargo hub, and a passenger capacity of more than 120 million - almost 50% more than Atlanta, currently the world’s busiest passenger airport. Built for the future, Dubai World Central International Airport has been designed to handle all next-generation aircraft, including the A380 super-jumbo. Up to four aircraft will be able to land simultaneously, 24 hours a day, minimising in-air queuing. The region’s biggest airport, Dubai World Central International will include: • 6 parallel runways, 4.5 km in length, each separated by a distance of 800 metres • Three passenger terminals including two luxury facilities one dedicated to airlines of the Emirates Group, the second to other carriers, and the third dedicated to low cost carriers • Multiple concourses • 16 cargo terminals with a 12 million ton capacity • Executive and Royal jet centres • Hotels and shopping malls (including many very expensive stores) • Support and maintenance facilities: the region’s only hub for A, B, and C Checks on all aircraft up to A380 specifications • Over 100,000 parking spaces (probably underground) for airport staff and passengers • Dubai World Central International Airport and the existing Dubai International Airport will be linked by a high speed express rail system • Dubai World Central International Airport will also be served by the Dubai Metro and a dedicated Dubai World Central light railway. When fully built it will be capable of handling 120 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo annually. Its large runways and the distance between would allow simultaneous take-offs and landings. Dubai’s expectations of an exponential rise in passenger traffic over its skies is built on the presumption that it would become the ideal air hub for transiting travellers from the Asia-Pacific Region, South Asia, Greater Middle-east, Africa, Europe, and Australia (for the Kangaroo route--Australia to Europe/Britain and vice versa). The air complex would, perhaps, become the most A380-friendly air facility in the world since all the hard-stand aero bridge gates are capable of accommodating the aircraft, as the master plan model suggests. The facility, however, will initially service cargo airlines. Several large warehouses and hangars line the westernmost part of the airport. These interlinked warehouses and/or hangars will stretch from end-to-end of the westernmost runway. Each of these warehouses and/or hangars are capable of housing A380 aircraft. The airport will complement Dubai International Airport, some 40 km (24 miles) away. The airport itself will be surrounded by a large logistics hub, an ultra-luxurious golf resort (with suburban housing interwoven between greens and fairways), an expansive trade and exhibition facility (3 million square meters of exhibition space – would become the world’s largest single exhibition site/location/address/destination), a massive commercial district, and a spacious residential/housing district. Due to the massive physical scale of the masterplan, others would come to claim that Dubai World Central would be the most ambitious airport project ever envisioned. The latest estimates by the government of Dubai peg the price tag at US$ 82 billion. This aerotropolis would be US$62 billion more expensive than the next most expensive airport: Hong Kong-Chek Lap Kok International Airport Core Project – which cost the Hong Kong government around US$20 billion (in 1997 dollars). This would also make it the most expensive single project in the world, ever (with the possible exceptions of the Dubai Waterfront, The Palm Deira, and New Songdo Intelligent City).

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