http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSL0832866220080508
Dubai airport aims to avoid Heathrow debacle
Thu May 8, 2008 3:49am EDT
By Jason Benham
DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai said it plans to open its new $4.5 billion
airport terminal gradually rather than with "a big bang" to avoid the
chaos that marked the opening of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5 in
March, which is 25 percent smaller.
The high-profile opening of the London facility, which can handle as
many as 30 million passengers per year, turned into a public relations
disaster, with hundreds of flights cancelled and tens of thousands of
bags missing.
Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer Paul Griffiths, who runs the
Middle East's busiest airport, said he planned to avoid a similar fate
by treading cautiously when he opens the 40-million-passenger-capacity
terminal this year.
"We'll exhaustively be testing the terminal systems throughout the
summer. We'll put a few flights in bit by bit, in waves rather than a
big bang," he told Reuters in an interview.
Griffiths said there was no specific opening day for the new terminal
but rather a gradual process, a strategy which has worked for other
airports around the world. Construction of the terminal was due to be
finished as early as 2006.
"A common thread through all of them is that the successful openings
have been done softly," he said.
The new terminal will enable Dubai to more than double capacity at the
airport to 65 million people per year, from 25 million now, though the
airport handled 34 million people in 2007.
"The terminal has not been hit by the recent escalation of material
costs because we bought them a while back," Griffiths said. "Our worry
is for future developments. We have bought the steel for concourse
three but our worry is for future materials we may have to buy.
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120055. Dubai airport aims to avoid Heathrow debacle
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