Dubai authorities showcased a state-of-the-art airport terminal, vowing 'not to blink' in face of the global financial turmoil and to press ahead with their $4.5 billion expansion plans.
'We are in front, and we intend fully to stay there. This is not a time to blink,' Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, said.
The new terminal is due for a soft opening on Tuesday. 'Emirates Terminal 3', dedicated to the Gulf city state's Emirates airline, adds a capacity of 20 million passengers a year to Dubai international airport, taking total capacity to 60m while construction goes on at another airport intended to be one of the world's largest.
Dubai airport will have handled around 40m passengers by the end of the year, about 5m more than last year, Griffiths said.
'Dubai is in a unique geocentric position where we have by default become the world's most significant hub,' Griffiths said.
'You haven't got to look very far around the region to see airports and airlines that would love to take some of the market share that Emirates and Dubai Airports are achieving.'
The new airport under construction at Jebel Ali on Dubai's outskirts will come on line over several years, with the first cargo flights due in the summer of next year and the first passenger flights shortly afterwards.
Griffiths said Dubai cannot afford to slow down expansion plans because of the global financial crisis.
'Investing in airport infrastructure is by definition a very long-term programme. There's probably more risk in slowing down than there would be in keeping on track because it could entail rising costs from penalties and the loss of contractors,' he said.
Emirates will move its operations to Terminal 3 starting on October 14 in four phases stretching to December.
Meanwhile, Emirates will receive its second A380 superjumbo on October 24 and hopes Airbus will stick to the timetable of further deliveries after earlier delays, its president said yesterday. 'It will be delivered on October 24 in Hamburg,' Tim Clark said.