Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport opens. Wow?

by Abha Malpani on

The exclusive Emirates Airline terminal of Dubai International Airport opened its doors yesterday. The airline projects catering to 40 million passengers annually, so an exclusive terminal was a necessity.

With all the crazy developments in Dubai over the last few years, each one outdoing the other, it’s hard to maintain wow factor. Nevertheless, the new airport wing has been fussed about a lot, so here are the details.

According to an article in Gulf News’s Xpress: At a price of $4.5 billion, the terminal has taken 10 million cubic meters of soil (enough to fill 4,000 swimming pools), 33,000 tonnes of structural steel, and 450 tonnes of reinforcement to put the terminal together. It has 157 lifts, 97 escalators, 82 moving walkways and 27 truck lifts and eight “Sky Trains” that can handle 47 people each. Also, 8000 square meters of retail space has been added to the already existing 7000 square meters of the Dubai Duty Free shopping area.

This is the first phase of the 4-phase terminal that begins by operating 40 flights a day. When phase 4 opens in 2011, 269 flights are expected to depart from this terminal daily.

It has 30 self-check-in counters alongside 126 traditional check-in stations. Rumor is that you will even be able to check in from the terminal’s car park!

Dubai International Airport currently handles 40 million passengers a year; this new terminal increases its capacity enough to accommodate the movement of another 20 million passengers annually.

Gulf News has done a video walk through of this new wing which you can see here. You will not be surprised to see that it looks more like a high-tech 5-star hotel.

Bus accident at airport sends passengers to hospital in a travel snafu

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’ve flown enough, you’ve probably been on one of those buses that transport you between airport terminals.

When riding in such a vehicle, who really thinks about anything but making a connection? After reading this article about an accident at the Sydney Airport in Australia this morning, I’d say, here’s another reason to hope there’s enough time for terminal transfers in order to catch a flight.

This morning, a bus was bringing passengers from the international to a domestic terminal when the driver had to swerve quickly and slam on the brakes to avoid hitting another vehicle. I can imagine the body slams. Several people flew out of their seats. As a result, seven people were hurt, although nothing so serious that they couldn’t walk off the bus.

Still, I imagine there was quite a ruckus as paramedics in seven emergency vehicles arrived at the scene of the accident to check folks out. Several passengers were taken to the hospital for a careful, just in case, look over. Can’t you just hear the protests? “No, no, no, I’m fine, really. I have a flight to catch. I’ll miss my connection.”

That’s one way to experience a flight delay. Hopefully, folks found themselves winging their way to their destinations soon after, and had a kiss and make up ticket voucher in hand. With luck, there wasn’t another bus transport involved in the rest of their journey.

5 steps to smarter packing

Why It’s a Good Time to Fly to Asia

by Josh Lew on

With the present conditions offering little reason for airline execs to break out the expensive cognac to toast to their success, some airlines (at least those who aren’t fearing for their lives) are looking to the future. The likes of Cathay Pacific and Finnair are developing routes to Asia that they hope will become lucrative once the world economy starts playing nice. These airlines are starting early, trying to have their brands in place before the competition. Some are offering added amenities or advertising new, faster routes. Here are some of the players:

1. Finnair claims it has the shortest route between New York and New Delhi, via its hub in Helsinki.
2. Cathay Pacific, already one of the top names in Asia, is trying to compete by adding flights to India via its Hong Kong base.
3. Northwest Airlines is trying to further develop its long running service to Japan.
4. Even American Airlines announced a 12% increase in passengers on its routes to Japan and China.
5. Singapore Airlines launched an all business class service between New York and Singapore.
6. New airlines are also competing for this growing market. India-based Jet Airways is developing a route between San Francisco and Mumbai that has become favorite of business travelers.

Via IHT

British Airways In-Flight Mag Goes Online

by Josh Lew on

High Life, the 35-year-old in-flight magazine of British Airways, is headed from airspace to cyberspace. The famous rag launched its online incarnation on October 9th. BA hopes that the success of the print version will translate to the online world and raise the airline’s profile amongst travelers. The publisher of High Life’s print version, Ceder, teamed with web development company Reactive on the project. They are aiming to attract advertisers eager to have their name and product associated with High Life. Perhaps they are also hoping that well-heeled cannabis aficionados will happen across the site after Googling “high life” and decide, on the spur of the moment, to book a flight to one of the site’s featured destinations.

The first online issue has a food theme and is guest edited by celeb chef Heston Blumenthal. It seems mainly aimed at gourmets and those with an taste for the upscale aspects of travel. There is a bit of hipness, with contributions by the likes of Hot Fuzz’s Simon Pegg. Still, the site maintains the glossy feel of its printed kin.

Perfume ad or airline ad?

by Scott Carmichael on

Feast your eyes on this airline commercial for Korean Air. For the first 20 seconds of the clip, you’d be convinced you were watching an ad for a new kind of perfume, or an upscale escort agency.

I’m guessing that this is what happens when you tell your ad agency to make something “different”. Thankfully this ad is not as insane as the United Airlines commercial I posted last month, but I still can’t help feeling that the ad completely fails to get me interested in flying with Korean Air. Then again, I am writing about it, and PR people keep telling me that any press is good press…