Concourse D raises capacity to 90m passenger at Dubai International Airport

With the opening of its new Concourse D today, the Dubai International Airport raised its capacity to 90 million passengers per year from 75 million.

The concourse, part of a $1.2 billion investment to enhance service and capacity, is linked to the newly-renovated Terminal 1 by an airport train that can transport 300 passengers per trip.

The opening comes after months of intensive testing and a successful operational trial involving 2,000 members of the public earlier this month.

The first flight to be welcomed at the facility was British Airways’ flight 105, with both BA and Royal Jordanian operating on day one from the Concourse and the remainder phasing in operations over the next few weeks.

H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Emirates Group, said, "We continue investing and developing the infrastructure in order to enhance the level of services provided to companies of international aviation and passengers to meet the growing demand."

"Aside from its many customer-centric features, Concourse D continues our legacy of providing timely capacity," said Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports. "Today we also announce our 2016 forecast which projects 85 million passengers will visit Dubai International this year. With the addition of Concourse D, Dubai International is getting both bigger and better."

Concourse D features wellbeing concepts such as Be Relax and SnoozeCubes, plus nine lounges, including five airline lounges, a new Al Majlis lounge, two Dubai International Hotel lounges and a Marhaba VIP lounge. Dubai Duty Free has a total of 175 vendor installations.

For the aircraft, there are 21 contact stands, of which four will be able to accommodate Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 planes. There’s also 11 remote stands.

Dubai International Airport recently retained its position as the world’s number one for passenger traffic for a second year after traffic exceeded 78 million in 2015.

Aided by 100 airlines that connect the airport to 240 destinations around the world, airport traffic increased by 10.7 per cent last year over the 70.4 million recorded in 2014.