While the focus of the aviation community will be on the 18th Dubai Airshow next week at Al Maktoum International Airport, this coming Tuesday marks a milestone for another UAE airport. From November 15, all flights at Abu Dhabi International Airport will operate from the new Terminal A.
The official opening will be on February 9, when the airport will be renamed Zayed International Airport in dedication to one of the founding fathers of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed. Only then, the multi-year construction program will be complete, having suffered numerous delays and cost overruns since it was launched in the early 2010s.
The original opening of what was originally called the Midfield Terminal was scheduled for July 2017, but this slipped by two years to 2019. This deadline was also missed. And then the Covid-pandemic set in, which delayed everything by another two years amid contractual issues with the consortium that constructed the terminal. Early this year, Abu Dhabi International confirmed the official opening in December.
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