Dubai voted 'Best Airport' again

Dubai International Airport has been voted the best in the Middle East and Africa for 2005 by readers of the travel magazine Business Traveller Germany.

On behalf of Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates, Jamal Al Hai, chairman of DCA Executive Board and director Strategy and Management Excellence, accepted the award in Frankfurt, said a report in the Gulf News.

The award comes to the airport for the third time in the airport category. The awards have evolved from being only a duty free award to encompassing the entire airport operation.

Earlier, Dubai Duty Free received the Business Traveller Germany award seven consecutive times for the best duty free worldwide. The awards now recognise that airports are a much larger entity than ever before, the report added.

The airport award category, introduced in 2003, is determined on the basis of services provided such as baggage delivery, check in, front line staff services, facilities and duty free shopping, which has contributed to a great extend towards achieving the award.

Survey forms were included in Business Traveller Germany and sent to every subscriber in the region. More than 3,000 readers responded in the survey.

Dubai International Airport has received 36 international awards. To facilitate the increased air traffic, the Department of Civil Aviation commenced the second phase of the airport's expansion last year.

The $4.1 billion expansion programme includes construction of Terminal 3 and concourses 2 and 3, all of which will be exclusive to Emirates airline, a mega cargo terminal and a major upgrade of Terminal 2, said the report.

The entire project is slated to be completed by 2007. With the completion of the second phase Dubai International Airport will have the capacity to handle 70 million passengers a year.