World’s First A380 Concourse Opens at Dubai International Airport

Concourse A, Dubai International Airport

The world’s first dedicated A380 concourse has opened at Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport.  Four out of the 20 gates of Concourse A are now in operation.

Emirates’ flight 3 from Dubai to London Heathrow became the first flight to use the facilities, departing at 2:30 p.m. local time on January 2, 2013.  The remaining gates of Concourse A will be gradually opened in successive phases.

Concourse A, part of Terminal 3 at the airport, was built exclusively for Emirates and is part of the airport’s $7.8 billion Strategic Plan 2020.  When the concourse is fully open and operational, Dubai International’s annual passenger capacity is expected to increase from 60 million to 75 million.

Dubai International Airport first opened on October 29, 1960.  As of January 2012, it was the world’s eleventh busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic, and the sixth busiest in terms of cargo traffic.