# Dubai Airport Expansion



## dubai_dude

The Dubai government has committed to a major expansion plan of the Dubai International Airport and its affiliated divisions. The new expansion programme of the Dubai International Airport (Phase 2) is due to cost $2.5 billion and was begun by the Department of Civil Aviation in 2002. It includes the construction of Terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3, and a Mega Cargo Terminal. Construction work for Terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3 is scheduled for completion by 2006. The Cargo Mega Terminal will be constructed in phases and is due to be completed by 2018. By 2006, Dubai International Airport will have the ability to cater for nearly 60 million passengers a year; its present capacity is 22 million.

The expansion program has been divided into five major elements. The first element is the expansion of passenger facilities, including Terminal 3, Concourse 2 and Concourse 3. The second element incorporates the expansion of cargo facilities, including the Mega Terminal, and the third element is the expansion of airfield facilities, such as new aprons, taxiways, roads, tunnels, runway extension, etc.

DUBAI AIRPORT TERMINAL 3
Located beneath the taxiway area and directly linked with Concourse 2, Terminal 3 incorporates an innovative design that promotes simplified, easy passenger flow (inbound and outbound) and decreases walking distances. This is the stark difference between the existing Terminal 1, which is linked to the concourse (Sheikh Rashid Terminal) via a tunnel, and Terminal 3.

Terminal 3's features include a multi-level underground structure measuring 300m x 350m wide, first class lounges and dedicated counters, restaurants, 180 check-in counters, as well as 2,600 underground parking spaces.

Terminal 3's departure and arrival halls will be located 10m below the apron and taxiways. By sustaining visual contact with the landside through a fully glazed facade at one end and the brightly naturally lit atrium of Concourse 2 at the other end, passenger orientation will be heightened.

The Terminal incorporates two levels of vehicle parking that is planned within a landscaped area, enabling uninterrupted views of Terminal 3 and Concourse 2 from the Airport road. A commercial centre will be built around a roof-lit central atrium in the parking area.

CONCOURSE 2
Directly connected to Terminal 3, Concourse 2 is dedicated exclusively to Emirates. The building will include a multi-level structure for departures and arrivals at Dubai Airport incorporating 27 contact gates and 59 passenger-loading bridges. Additionally, there will be a direct connection to Sheikh Rashid Terminal located at the control tower structure. There is also a 300-room hotel and health club that will include both five and three star rooms. A further 10,000m² of commercial space will be home to Dubai Duty Free and restaurants.

Concourse 2 will include five aerobridges capable of handling the new Airbus A380 Super Jumbo. The two concourse buildings will be linked via this airbus, enabling transiting passengers to move freely between the two buildings.

CONCOURSE 3
The third concourse has been included in the expansion programme to accommodate the increased number of passengers at Dubai Airport from the new A380 Super Jumbo.

Concourse 3 will be a scaled-down version of Concourse 3, incorporating climate-controlled lounges. It will have 27 contact gates; 12 gates will be for the A380. The two concourses will be connected via electric buses.


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## ahmedr

Those pics speak for themselves!


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## Guest

Where can a person complain about something in Dubai Airport?

I hope this new terminal they have is designed in a better way than terminal 2. I always want to complain about the lavatories there but I forget once I get home.

There is only one tiny ladies' lavatory for arriving passengers. That's just stupid. It is important for arriving passengers to have a spacious lavatory with a proper mirror and make-up counter to freshen up before meeting people at the airport.

However in terminal 2, the one lavatory only has 3 sinks and 3 toilets, and to reach the place, you have to pass by a sitting area that is full of bachelor men from 3rd world countries. When you enter the lavatory, there is no small corridor that turns at an angle - the door opens DIRECTLY into the tiny lavatory, and anyone who comes in or goes out exposes everyone else to the male sitting area. All the men can see inside the ladies' lavatory, and there are 10 payphones lined up on the wall in front of the place, so those people have an even better view inside. The place also stinks.

Other than that stupid design, there is a major problem with customer service in the airport. Plus there is no security. Many times I have been told I can pass with my bags without going through x-ray, and there is no one to check if people going out are carrying their own bags or if they have taken someone else's by mistake or stolen extra baggage. How can they be a world class airport?


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## TheBaseTower

Looks like the new israeli one, very impressive!


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## dubai_dude

lol...lol bulldozergirl
maybe you should open your own complain thread that way you would know where you post your complain...hehe... 
maybe you were in one of the bathroom, that was'nt common, or designed to meet the need of few people, i am sure there must be a much bigger bathroom offering much more like bigger counter, make-up room, bigger toilets, bath tub, telephones booth, TVs, sleeping bed lol just makes me laugh
lol , you are soo concerned about people looking inside, afterall let the desperate men look a little inside lol lol.
what will really happen if they looked inside?
people want crystal bathroom, when they dont even realize people before use to, as what i call "sitting and doing" out in the yard.
this airport was really designed to handle with very small flights, with few passengers with no stay at airport, just flghts that come and go. its really a small airport with basic needs, getting on the plane and flying away.


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## Guest

What small airport are you talking about? I thought Dubai airport was supposed to be one of the busiest in the area. And of course passengers "come and go" - that's what the whole idea is about. No one lives in an airport (except for that Iranian guy in Charles de Gaulle). Passengers require lavatories.

Don't give me that crap about asking for too much and complaining..etc. I don't use public toilets, I use mirrors and want a decent place to brush my teeth and wash my face. You're the one who likes to brag about the "world class" facilities in Dubai - and now you say people expect too much from a "little airport".

You should also know that in the Middle East, women usually cover their hair. They should at least, have access to a lavatory which doesn't open into a male sitting area so that they can adjust their veils or remove it as they wash their face. Even in non-Muslim countries privacy is taken into consideration.

There are no more toilets for arriving passengers in terminal 2 except for one after the baggage belt which doesn't even have signs pointing to it.


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## Guest

Here's the airport's reply to my complaint:

_Greetings, We like to thank you for corresponding with us. Concerning your complaint we like to inform that Terminal 2 is going under reconstruction and expansion right now to accommodate the increasing demand for its services. In the new expansion scheme, terminal 2 is providing more service facilities that you have requested in your complaint.
Thank you again for corresponding with us._


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## dubai_dude

i too have used the old method sometimes, the fresh air under the tree, the cool breeze going through the hairs, one is in it own privacy looking at the beatiful scenery around the area. there is more actiities going on then a regular.................! umm..wonderfull is'nt it?


you seem soo serious about this thing, sending a letter when you know its under reconstruction
well. i say make that a women sitting area only, so women dont have to see any men when they are entering the bathroom, would you mind women? perhaps they should make it a standing area so that people get tired standing and well, run away from that area.lol..lol...and um a women security guard called "bathroom patrol" guarding the door of the bathroom lol.
well, i hope your complain get fulfill by the authorities 
and this new airport did'nt actually have that great demand, so they build it small




> You're the one who likes to brag about the "world class" facilities in Dubai


umm.....thinking about it, yeah maybe your are right, dubai does'nt have that much to offer.


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## Guest

Yes, actually if the area outside was a female waiting area, I wouldn't have minded it so much if the door opened every minute as someone walked in. But the waiting areas are not categorized by gender. It is for both, men and women, but we have so many bachelor 3rd world country men in our city, so they make up the greater majority of people sitting there. I don't even know what they're waiting for, there was some sort of visa office there.

Having a "woman guard" standing in front of the lavatory door is quite common. In many shopping malls and airports there is someone who stands for security purposes (to check if bags are stolen or if lesbians go in maybe  ). But it is useless to have a guard stand in front of the door because as anyone walks in or out, she would have to get out of the way, and the men can still see inside as the door swings open.

I didn't now terminal 2 is undergoing reconstruction. I wonder why it's under reconstruction. They always do stupid things like that in Dubai. They build something without thinking about the design very well, and then when mistakes appear, they do several reconstructions. It's a waste of money.

Btw, I wasn't the only one who found the lavatory design apalling. There were several American and European women who said the same. We discussed it in the lavatory.


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## ahmedr

If you already didnt know the airport was designed by a top international firm and the whole project cost them a lot of money so i dont think you can call the design stupid at least out of respect to the big firm who designed it and put lots of work into it and to the people who paid a lot of money which they too had to work hard for 

You also have to acknowledge the fact that not only you but also me and most forumers here are considered ignorant in airport design compared to these people. Are you sure they're reconstructing terminal 2 cuz i havent heard anything about that in the news. But even if they are it shows there is a lot more demand than they expected so its paying off quite well, so you still cant call them stupid. The right word would be "geniuses".


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## Guest

What are you talking about? I didn't complain about the overall design of the airport. I complained about the lavatory design.

I don't care if an "international" or a local firm designed the place. What I know is that this is the only public lavatory I've seen in my life that exposes the people to everyone outside. The door also swings open to the inside, so no one can stand there to block the view. Fixing this problem temporarily is very easy. They can just put a wooden partition in front of the door and let people enter from the side.

It is the job of architects and construction firms to design and build whatver they're told to build. You might like the look of Dubai airport, so you have chosen to call those who built it "geniuses". You also enjoy following construction projects and worship buildings like you're playing Sim City, so to you, such things are wow.

As for me, I like to think of things in practical terms. I found the lavatory facilities in the airport very poor, as did many other people, and I didn't complain for personal satisfaction. I complained to help the people in charge fix things to make the airport better. If people don't point out things like this, there will be no improvement.

As for other things I mentioned in my first post, they have nothing to do with design, but with security. It is a fact that I have been able to pass through many times without having my bags checked.


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## ahmedr

Okay, is calling someone stupid because he wants to reconstruct a whole airport terminal because of its design not considered complaining about the overall design?

And for your information this website was probably developed by people you would call "skyscraper worshippers" so i dont think this is the right place to be sarcastic about it cuz thats why most forumers come here for. Nice buildings are not exactly why I am here for. The reason i am here is because of Dubai. Skyscrapers are nowadays usually associated with very high economic growth and prosperity and thats evident in the cases of New York, Hong Kong, Singapore etc... and out of being very anxious to see whats going to happen to Dubai and if that would lead to some Islamic or Arab modernisation is why i keep coming back to this forum. I would love to see an Arab or Islamic country flourish and Dubai seems to be the closest to achieving that.

As for being amazed with the design of the Dubai Airport.... I hardly know how it looks. What i do know for a fact is that it got top international awards for its services including being voted as the world's best airport and that makes your toilet and security crap simply worthless.

oh and one more thing, architects do not just build what they are told to build because there is this human nature to form a reputation for others from their work and architectural firms value their reputation a lot.


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## Guest

They could have won awards for other things in the airport. Emirates Airlines had also won the best airline award many times, but I know many people who always complain about it and prefer other airlines.

Myself and some other people found the design of the lavatory impractical. Was it wrong to point it out to whoever is in charge? Would you have liked to use the sink and have about 100 men look at you? I personally don't think that's a very nice thing. I wanted to remove my sweater and I couldn't because everyone was looking.

I like playing Sim City, and I like watching projects develop. I know this forum is for people like that, that's why I'm here. But I'm saying that you can like buildings, but you shouldn't worship them and say I should not complain about a lavatory "out of respect to the big firm who designed it". Sure I respect all hard-working people, but this firm isn't my grandfather or God even to respect or idolize and shut up when they do something I don't like. This is taking it to extremes.

I also think it would be great if Dubai became the first "modern" Islamic or Arabic city. But modernization doesn't come with modern looking buildings and a surface change. There are many other aspects such as education and having a strong, productive local workforce - having local industries, and not just foreign companies and factories operating in the country to take advantage of no taxes and cheap workforce.

A civilized person isn't civilized because of the clothes he wears, he is civilized by the way he behaves and his thoughts and beliefs. All I want is for more investment in the core of Dubai - its people.


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## dubai_dude

:applause:
bravo bull girl
i think in a airport soo BIG, it could be possible that you went into one of those small bathroom, rather then the big one they have. they must have many bathrooms and perhaps the one you went in was designed to handle low demands.
this could be quite possible
living in dubai is fun!, my parents can take me out at late night and dont worry about the content i see.
usually the bathrooms i see in dubai are pretty big, and maybe some opens directly into the bathroom, and some girls must be standing there and looking in, but i dont mind them looking in, cause when i go inside, i will have my private space, which is fine!
i dont know how you keep hearing these complains about all the thing like emirates airlines, well its pretty good, but none of he airlines are perfect.


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## Guest

*dubai_dude* - I'm talking about lavatories for arriving passengers in terminal 2 from the moment they get off the plane until they reach the baggage belt and go out.

The duty free area for departures has several large lavatories, and I'm sure there are many more decent ones outside of the duty free area as well. But for arrivals, there is only that small one which I mentioned. I search for a toilet sign very carefully as I pass through, and for more than 20 times I only saw that small one.


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## elfreako

I have a friend who works in the firm that designed the terminal building in question (in Cairo/Beirut). I'll pass on your remarks regarding the female loos on the arrival concourse!


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## Style™

From those renderings the project looks awsome! Nice new airport will be built. I envy the interior. It looks so modern.....just a wonderful building on the inside!


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## Guest

*"the core of Dubai - its people"*



BulldozerGirl said:


> I also think it would be great if Dubai became the first "modern" Islamic or Arabic city. But modernization doesn't come with modern looking buildings and a surface change. There are many other aspects such as education and having a strong, productive local workforce - having local industries, and not just foreign companies and factories operating in the country to take advantage of no taxes and cheap workforce.
> 
> A civilized person isn't civilized because of the clothes he wears, he is civilized by the way he behaves and his thoughts and beliefs. All I want is for more investment in the core of Dubai - its people.


BulldozerGirl: this is fascinating subject, which may not find its place in this skyscraper forum. However, skyscrapers are not just buildings but a 'community' in itself. If considered as such, a discussion about 'modern', 'education' etc. suddenly makes some sense. I don't believe in modernism and education as having a 'global' or universal content. We live every day the results of this confusion, or rather say, mal-intention of some 'elites'. I think the major hurdle in adapting our 'inner' to the 'outer' world is time. Do you think Dubai (UAE) will ever suffer of a timebomb effect of the rapid change? There're a few studies about such effects but with larger countries/populace (Iran, Egypt, Turkey, South America etc.). Will UAE's 'small' indigenous population be (again) an advantage?


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## Guest

oh no more walking distance, i dont want to walk that "mile" each time i go to dubai, come on give me a break, after travelling for 17+ hrs thats the last thing i want.....anyways once i'm out of the airport all things forgotten....back home........


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## Chad

This is exactly what Dubai's deserves...


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## dubai_dude

Yeah, its not such a great thing but you also get to see all the great things of the airport and overall its a gerat experience as you remember it after. i have to admit the floors are very very shiny of the airport, what do they do to that?


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## Trances

I have to move some of this great stuff over to the Project thread I started 
sorry i have left some of this is was kinda lazy cruel of me
I getting complex thinking that I am being a control freak over all these threads
sorry !


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## Guest

personally, i dont like this terminal very much, its very plain and simple, and most things in dubai are not plain and simple


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## Dubai-Lover

what do you guys think of my proposal:

why doesn't dubai build an airport on an artificial island, just like hong kong!?


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## Trances

Sounds like a good idea but there is no shortage of land here yet !
the airport while so close to the city is a feature and already had huge recent investment. Builind islands is to hard for Dubai, yer right  !
But it may get to that stage that the land runs out but with the density i dont think so
Also out to see sure every one on the world and palms would be impressing being right in the flight path !!


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