“High quality airport infrastructure is vital to the prosperity of any forward looking nation,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, commenting on Terminal 3 and Al Maktoum International Airport.
“It is the lasting first impression for the vast majority of travellers today, many of whom will only see the airport as a snapshot of a nation, as they pass through on their way to their ultimate destination.”
“We all know how important first impressions are. We strongly believe that we have to create a stunning first encounter for our customers and support the enviable reputation that Dubai is building all around the globe.”
He said that Dubai Airports had maintained an average growth rate of over 15 per cent for the past six years, largely due to an economy that is focused on tourism, trade and commerce, and as such, Dubai was a major attraction for businesses as well as tourists.
“One of the main reasons behind Dubai establishing itself as the aviation hub of the Middle East and fast emerging as the global hub is largely due to the success of Emirates Airline and Dubai’s open skies policy,” said Griffiths.
“Our new facilities will help us deliver growth that will reach between 65 and 70 million passengers by the first half of the next decade.
So many countries around the world have airports that are struggling to keep up with demand - here in Dubai, we want to make sure that we are building facilities that keep pace with demand.”
A passenger terminal with the capacity of between five and seven million passengers per year is under construction at Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum International as part of the first phase of the project, which will start operations in the second half of 2009.
When at full capacity, the new airport will be almost double the size of the world’s busiest airport, which is currently Atlanta in the USA. The current top five after Atlanta are Chicago, Heathrow, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Paris.
