Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Airports Company (Adac) on Sunday opened a 4.1 kilometre second runway at Abu Dhabi International Airport, built at a cost of Dh1 billion.
The new runway is located two kilometres north of the original one. Work on the project began in May 2006 and includes the construction of the runway, two major taxi-ways, two cross-field taxi-ways and two fire stations.
To mark the inauguration of the second runway, an Etihad Airways A-320 carrying media persons took off yesterday for a symbolic ten-minute flight.
Adac Chairman Khalifa Al Mazrouei told reporters that $6.8 billion is the total cost of the redevelopment and modernisation of Abu Dhabi International airport. The money will be spent over a five year period, 2006-2011, he added.
This expenditure includes Dh1 billion towards building the airport's Terminal 3, which is dedicated to the UAE's national carrier Etihad Airways. Work is underway on the terminal and it is scheduled to be operational by the end of this year. Once the terminal is completed, the airport will have an annual capacity of about 12 million passengers.
"The next phase will see passengers checking in through Terminal 3, with a final phase expected to encompass the opening of a full duty free retail and food and beverage village early in the new year," said Al Mazrouei.
Announced
Adac also announced at the news conference that operations at Terminal 3 had begun.
"We have adopted a phased approach to the opening of the new terminal. Last month, we started departures using the bus gates and lounges at Terminal 3 for certain services.
Working closely with Etihad Airways, our aim is to increase the number of departures from Terminal 3 before moving on to accepting arriving planes," Al Mazrouei added.
