Dubai International Airport

Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB, ICAO: OMDB) (Arabic: مطار دبي الدولي‎) is an international airport serving Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates. It is a major aviation hub in the Middle East, and is the main airport of Dubai. It is situated in the Garhoud district, in the east of the Dubai. The airport was built at a cost of some US$5.5 billion and can handle 60 million passengers and 2.1 million tonnes of cargo a year. In 2008, the airport was the 20th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic and 11th busiest by cargo traffic. The airport is operated by the Department of Civil Aviation and is the home base of Dubai's international airline, Emirates Airline and Emirates SkyCargo; the Emirates hub is the largest airline hub in the Middle East and Africa and handles 60% of all passenger traffic at the airport, however only handles 37% of all aircraft movements at the airport. It is also a hub for Flydubai. In addition, it serves as a secondary hub for the Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways, and a focus city for Singapore Airlines. Other smaller passenger and cargo airlines use the airport as a hub and these include Dolphin Air, Falcon Express Cargo Airlines and Iranian career Aria Air. Airlines with secondary hubs at the airport include Royal Jordanian, British Gulf International Airlines, Iran Aseman Airlines, airblue, Iran Air and African Express Airways. It is a focus city for a number of airlines including; Singapore Airlines, Yemenia, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines, and Jubba Airways. As of March 2009, there are about 4,900 weekly flights operated by 125 airlines to over 200 destinations across North America, Europe, South America, East Asia, Southwest Asia, South Asia, Australasia, and Africa.[citation needed] Dubai International Airport will be complemented by Al Maktoum International Airport (Dubai World Central International Airport), a new 140 km2 (54 sq mi) airport that will help handle the influx of travellers well into the future. In 2008, the airport handled a record 37,441,440 passengers,[1] a 9.7% increase over the 2007 total. This made it the 20th busiest airport in the world and, with 36,592,307 international passengers, the 6th busiest international airport in the world, in terms of international passenger traffic, a 9.3% increase of international passengers from 2007. In addition to being an important passenger traffic hub, the airport is one of the busiest cargo airports in the world, handling 1.824 million tonnes of cargo in 2008, making it the 11th busiest airport in the world, a 9.4% increase of cargo traffic since 2007 . The new $4.5 billion Terminal 3 opened on 14 October 2008, and Terminal 2 will be upgraded. Concourse 3 is also part of Terminal 3, and is expected to be completed by 2011. Terminal 3 will add 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) and is the single largest building in the world by floor space.