The 60 major international airlines operating out of the new Concourse D at Dubai International Airport were given a royal reception yesterday by HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports, who welcomed representatives at an official opening ceremony organised by Dubai Airports.

Sheikh Ahmed interacted with airline representatives and toured the new facility as part of the event, which follows the successful opening of Concourse D on February 24 earlier this year.

“These airlines play an important role in making Dubai one of the most connected cities in the world. We highly value our airline partners and our mutual customers – the hundreds of thousands of passengers that pass through our airport every day, which is why we have invested $1.2 billion in the development of a state of the art Concourse D and major upgrades to Terminal 1,” Sheikh Ahmed said.

He added: “As many as 60 airlines operate out of Concourse D, operating 350 flights every day to 90 destinations around the world. Considering the large and diverse customer base to which the new facility caters, the range of products, services, retail and food and beverage offerings, were chosen after careful consideration and in line with a detailed commercial strategy. We wanted to put the customer at the heart of that design and ensure that the whole passenger layout, including the design of retail and dining areas, was created from the traveller’s perspective.”

Concourse D features an exciting line-up of world-renowned brands being introduced for the first time – including casual dining concept The Kitchen by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, the first Pret a Manger in a Middle Eastern airport, as well as Butlers Chocolate Café. Featuring a total of 21 food concessions, Concourse D is also home to CNN Travellers Café for news junkies, as well as Masale: The Taste of India, in addition to scores of other popular brands already operating at Dubai International Airport’s other terminals.

The new concourse offers plenty of comfortable seating spaces and wellbeing concepts such as Be Relax and ‘SnoozeCubes’ which provide a convenient way to rest between flights. It also features a total of nine lounges spread over 6,926 sq m, including five airline lounges, a new Al Majlis lounge, two Dubai International Hotel lounges and a Marhaba VIP lounge.

Dubai Duty Free at Concourse D is 8400-sq-m of open, walk-through retail environment offering the widest range of retail brands.

Concourse D has increased the aiport’s annual capacity from 75 million to 90 million passengers, enabling it to accommodate the ongoing rapid growth in traffic. - TradeArabia News Service