Dubai International Airport is a fortress hub for Emirates airlines and has a large Duty Free shopping centre. Dubai airport has won many awards for its excellence in design and services. A third terminal is currently opened in 2006. The new terminal dedicated to Emirates airlines and will fully support the Airbus A380. When completed this will double the capacity of the airport.

A second airport located at Jebel Ali—and a new free trade area within Dubai, marking the centrepiece of the Jebel Ali Airport City—was announced in 2004 and construction began in January 2005. Although initially intended as a predominantly cargo airport, plans are afoot for the new Jebel Ali airport to handle some 40 million passengers per annum within 20 years.

Dubai International Airport : The airport is a hub to Dubai's international airline, Emirates.

Because of the many stores in the airport, it is considered a major place to buy duty free goods in that country, which is in turn considered a duty free shopping haven.

Dubai International Airport will be replaced by Jebel Ali International Airport.

History

Dubai International Airport was conceived in 1959, when Sheik Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum first ordered construction. It was inaugurated in 1960 with DC-3 plane flights and was home to nine airlines. Today, the airport accepts all kinds of jets.

On 3 July 1988, Iran Air Flight 655, which was on a Tehran-Bandar Abbas-Dubai route, was shot down by USS Vincennes between Bandar Abbas and Dubai due to the aircraft overflying a combat zone. An estimated 300 people were killed in this incident.

On 28 July 2001, a man named Djamel Beghal was arrested at Dubai International Airport while transferring from a flight from Pakistan to a flight to Europe. Beghal admitted to being part of the Paris embassy attack plot to UAE interrogators. The Al-Qaida suspect was taken to France, where he recanted parts of his statement. The plot was dismantled by French, Belgian, and Dutch authorities.

Part of the airport's Terminal 3 collapsed on September 28, 2004 during the construction phase. The terminal was designed by French architect Paul Andreu. Andreu also designed Terminal 2E at Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport, which collapsed on May 23, 2004.

The Airport will 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 2012. Dubai International Airport Pictures>>