Dubai International Airport (DXB/OMDB), United Arab Emirates

Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) instigated the phase two expansion programme of Dubai International Airport in June 2002 (now due to be completed by mid-2008). Costing an estimated AED9.25bn, it includes the construction of terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3, a new VIP pavilion for the Dubai Royal 'Wing', a car park and also a mega cargo terminal addition to the cargo village.

The expansion programme was divided into three major projects. The first is the expansion of passenger facilities, including Terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3. The second project incorporates the expansion of cargo facilities, including the mega terminal, and the third is the expansion of airfield infrastructure, such as new aprons, taxiways, roads, tunnels and runway extensions.

The construction work for terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3 was scheduled for completion by the final quarter of 2007, but was delayed until 2008. The cargo mega terminal is being constructed in phases and is due to be fully complete by 2018.

Dubai International Airport currently has a capacity of 33 million passengers (2007 figure) but by the time the phase 2 projects are completed it will have the capacity to handle 60 million passengers a year. Forecasts project the airport to be handling 70 million passengers a year by 2016 and 100 million a year by 2025, which would make it the world's largest airport. Obviously further expansion projects would be necessary before this.

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 across the terminal. 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. The design of the terminal by Aéroports de Paris (ADP) is in the shape of an airplane wing and is 1km long.

Terminal 3's features include a multi-level underground structure measuring 300m x 350m, first class lounges and dedicated counters, restaurants, 180 check-in counters and 2,600 underground parking spaces. The terminal will also add 15,000m² (161,400ft²) of retail space to the airport.

The departures and arrivals halls within the terminal will be located 10m below the apron and taxiways. Passenger orientation will be heightened by maintaining visual contact with the landside through a fully glazed facade at one end and concourse 2, with its bright naturally lit atrium at the other.

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, the 950m-long concourse 2 will be 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 the Dubai Duty Free retail outlet and various restaurants. The retail space will be arranged in the form of a 450m-long shopping street and will be managed by Dubai Duty Free (sales of over $1bn are expected by 2010).

Concourse 2 will include five aerobridges capable of handling the new Airbus A380 Superjumbo. The two concourse buildings will be linked via these airbridges enabling transiting passengers to move freely between the two buildings.

CONCOURSE 3

The third concourse was included in the expansion programme to accommodate the increased number of passengers at Dubai Airport from the new A380 Superjumbo. Dubai airport will be one of the first airports to have regular visits from the first A380s in service.

Concourse 3 will be a scaled-down version of concourse 2, incorporating climate-controlled lounges. It will have 27 contact gates, of which 12 will be for the A380. The two concourses will be connected via electric buses. Concourse 3 will also be connected to the public levels of T3 by an automated people mover and also a service tunnel for baggage transfer.

PROGRESS ON THE PHASE 2 EXPANSION

Excavation work was completed by mid 2003 and by mid 2004 construction was well underway.

Excavation and foundations for terminal 3 and concourses 2 and 3 involved the excavation of 5.5 million cubic metres of earth and 1,500 piles being drilled and poured (some to depths of 50m). The work also included 450 anchors for diaphragm walls. Companies involved in this work included Bauer of Germany and Middle East Foundations.

The project received a setback in August 2005 when a wall collapsed on the terminal 3 construction site killing five and injuring 12 workers. Work started again shortly afterwards following a thorough investigation.

CARGO MEGA TERMINAL

The cargo village at Dubai is one of the world's largest and most central cargo hubs, with much of the cargo for Asia and Africa comes through the facility. Forecasts in 2004 for cargo growth predicted that additional major cargo handling facilities were needed to satisfy demands. Plans were put in progress to construct the first stage of the cargo mega terminal, which by 2018 will have the ability to handle three million tons of freight.

Phase 1 of the cargo mega terminal was completed by the end of 2004 and the next phase of expansion was scheduled for completion in late 2007.

FLOWER IMPORT / EXPORT CENTRE

Dubai is a centre for the import and export of flowers and the airport required a specialist facility since these products need special conditions. The flower centre first phase was completed in the summer of 2004 at a cost of $50m. The building has an innovative and avant-garde design because it takes a central position in the airport layout.

The flower centre is not yet finished and construction will continue in another two phases. The centre will offer an enhanced level of automation over a five to seven year period for processing flower products. It will begin with a semi-automated system with manual sorting before eventually becoming fully automated.

The centre when completed and functioning will have a floor area of approximately 100,000m² including export chambers and offices (aside from product breakdown and build-up stations, and automated sorting areas). The handling capacity of the centre is expected to be more than 300,000t of product throughput per annum. The entire facility (with the exception of the offices) will be maintained at an ambient temperature of just 2°C to 4°C.

FURTHER PROJECTS WHICH WILL IMPACT ON THE AIRPORT

Construction of the new Dubai Metro system started in mid-2002. The AED12.45bn project will be completed for the first trains to run in 2009 and the 17.6km green line (phase 2 of the project) will run from the Dubai Airport Free Zone to the new Dubai healthcare city. This should have a great impact on improving the already excellent public transport system connecting the airport with nearby communities.

APRONS AND TAXIWAYS

The apron area around the new concourse 2 was upgraded in a project completed in 2003; this new strengthened area provides for 27 wide-bodied aircraft stands. Five of these stands are reserved to accommodate the A380.

Taxiways were strengthened. Although most think this is unnecessary, the Dubai civil aviation authority thought it best to err on the side of caution. In addition, work on other taxiways in the area was expanded in order to complete the work associated with the newly commissioned second runway.

Other apron space around terminal 2 was also extended to provide additional remote parking stands for taxiing aircraft, which is an advantage in such a busy airport where ground movements of aircraft have to be coordinated with the same precision as air traffic control does in the air.

CONTRACTORS

Aéroports de Paris International was contracted as project design consultant for terminal 3. They produced an innovative and ground-breaking design for the new terminal in the shape of an airplane wing. Design group Dar Al-Handasah Consultants were contracted to design the concourse 3 part of the project.

The retail areas have been designed by CIL of London in conjunction with Retail Concepts of Dubai. The structural engineering of the terminal three facade is being carried out by Knippers Helbig KHing GmbH. General Electric Security is providing explosive detection systems for terminal 3 ($9m contract) and QinetiQ is providing its Tarsier Radar system for the detection of debris on the runways ($2m contract was awarded in 2005).

Messrs Al Naboodah Engineering Services, in collaboration with the sister M&E contracting company, Messrs Trans Gulf Electro Mechanical, were contracted for the expansion of storm water facilities, and has subcontracted to Blackburn Starling for the supply of the pump station motor control equipment.

Al Naboodah Contracting was awarded the $545m civil engineering contract for the T3 and concourse projects (involving concrete construction, reinforcement and waterproofing). Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Middle East were responsible for the structural steel work on the T3 project (contract awarded in 2005).

Preston Aviation Solutions of Melbourne Australia, a subsidiary of Boeing was contracted to perform a simulation study on Dubai Airport to determine, visualise and analyse the risk in the future expansion of the airport. The study has used use the Total Airspace and Airport Modeller (TAMMS) and has been able to accurately measure the effects of the new phase 2 expansion. The study was valuable in that it enabled engineers to make the correct choice for some final design points at the airport.

Siemens was awarded the contract for the complete airfield lighting and airfield lighting control system for the expansion project. This included approximately 4,200 BRITE® light fittings for the runway, the taxiway, the guidance signs and the control system.

ARINC Inc was awarded the $45m IT contract for the airport. They have supplied advanced passenger check-in equipment and critical electronic systems at the airport. ARINC is also part of a consortium led by Thermo LLC (also including ALCATEL and LinkForce) which has been given the MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing) contract for terminal 3.

ARINC has provided extensive design, project management, supply management, installation and commissioning for the communication systems at the airport. These included ARINC iMUSE common-use passenger system, AirVUE Flight Information Display System (FIDS); GateFlow Resource Management System (RMS); AirDB Airport Operational Database (AODB) and ARINC SelfServ Common-Use Self-Service (CUSS) passenger check-in kiosks.

APW Enclosure Solutions was awarded the contract for all electronic enclosures for data networks and communications systems at Terminal Three (650 Image 620 universal networking cabinets and 50 VERAK IP65 environmentally sealed racks).

ARINC has interfaced its solutions with newly installed systems from third-party contractors, and has worked on integrating new terminal 3 and concourse 2 technologies to the existing airport infrastructure. The ARINC work was completed by mid-2007.

Joint venture partners Al Habtoor Engineering of Dubai and Murray & Roberts of South Africa, along with Takenaka were awarded a $1 billion, 28-month construction contract in late 2004 for completion of terminal 3, concourse 2 and the car park at Dubai International Airport. Much of this work had been completed by mid-2007 ready for the new terminal to come into operation.