Dubai airport Chief Executive Paul Griffiths said Sunday the world's first concourse exclusively for Airbus A380 "superjumbo" has completed its launch and is now fully operational.

Speaking at a media conference at Dubai International Airport, or DXB, Griffiths said as part of terminal 3, Concourse A increases the airport's maximum capacities to 75 million passengers per year from last year's 60 million.

The 3.3 billion U.S.-dollar concourse has a total surface of 528,000 square meters, 11 floors and a separate business and first class lounge. It also harbors a five-star and a four-star hotel with 202 rooms, including 37 suites.

Earlier in January, Griffiths announced that DXB was the world' s third biggest airport in 2012 as it received 56.6 million passengers, up 13 percent year on year.

Like DXB's terminal 3, Concourse A is exclusively used by Dubai 's state-owned carrier Emirates Airline, the world's fastest growing airline and the biggest Airbus A380 buyer.

A total of 31 out of 90 A380 aircraft the Emirates ordered from European consortium Airbus are currently operating.

Australian airline Qantas, which entered into a strategic alliance with Emirates at end of 2012, will start using Concourse A with 2 Airbus A380 planes on March 30.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)