Building of Terminal 1 of the Dubai International Airport isnow complete and the extended facilities are ready to receivepassengers.
Redrawn to accommodate more passengers and provide modern facilitiesat the region's busiest airport, the Dubai Department of CivilAviation (DCA) on Monday announced the completion of the workat the terminal where civil works were on over the past year,according to a report in The Gulf Today.
The enhanced facilities cover the immigration counters, DubaiDuty Free outlet, bigger and stronger carousels and Red and Greenchannels for quicker exit of arriving passengers.
The new facilities have come at a time when most of the expatriatesare returning from their summer vacation.
Passengers now have to experience shorter queues at the immigrationcounters that have been increased from 16 (32 desks) to 22 (44desks) to clear passengers much quickly.
Three more carousels have been added to the existing seven.
They are also broader and stronger to accommodate heavier luggage.The customs area has been expanded from 30 square metres to40 square metres to give more room for passengers. As per thesystem followed by most international airports, the baggage wouldnow be screened before they are loaded on the carousels.
Since this obviates the need to scan them at exit, the x-raymachines have been removed.
The Green, Red Channels for arriving passengers follows theinternationallyfollowed system. This allows quicker exit to passengers leavingthe arrival terminal.
However, the airport has installed a small x-ray machine screeningcabin baggage of all passengers including those who arrive withno checked-in luggage.
The DDF outlet at the arrival building has been doubled itssize.
On the expansion work DCA Director of Projects Khalifa Al Zaffinsaid: "It is our aim to provide a smooth flow of passenger trafficat peak times. With the onset of the summer rush, we are pleasedto have completed our expansion plans. It has been a team effortwith all concerned parties such as the Customs, Immigration,DNATA and Dubai Duty Free working together." As the busiest airport in the Middle East and one of the fastestgrowing in the world, Dubai International Airport handled closeto 22 million passengers in 2004. Estimates show that the numberis set to cross 25 million this year to touch 60 million by 2010.
To cater to the increasing demand for space and facilities,the airport continues with its expansion plans to keep pace withthe major global aviation hubs. Work on the Terminal 3 and Concourses2 is progressing at a fast pace with the facilities scheduledto be thrown open for flights in 2008. Work on Concourse 3 isset to begin by end of this year.
Being built at a cost of over $2.5 billion (Dhs9.17 billion),Terminal 3 and the two concourses will cater exclusively to Emiratesairline, while other airlines will be accommodated at Terminal1 and Terminal 2.
