Old Bastakia

The Old "New" Dubai Airport

At the end of the 1960s Dubai was a small (100,000 population) but ambitious City State. Old Dubai Airport was inadequate to meet Dubai's growing needs. The Ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum commissioned Architects Page and Broughton to design a Terminal that could meet projected air-transport but, more importantly, persuade international airlines to use Dubai as a Hub and Transit Airport.

Costain Civil Engineering, Ltd., of London was awarded the $10 million construction contract. The new Terminal opened in 1971.

The Airport Terminal Design

The new Dubai International Terminal was ahead-of-its-time in providing passenger facilities to handle modern jumbo aircraft. Restaurants and kitchens serving 400, free-zone shopping area and sleeping accommodations for stranded travelers were provided plus the ground services and refueling were also extensive. The Terminal did not use the traditional decorative motifs but employed a visually open and vaulted structure to create an arabesque quality. 56 lightweight, insulated "umbrella" units of glass-reinforced plastic framed by steel supported on reinforced concrete columns formed the roof. The dome over the VIP lounge is also reinforced plastic.

Dubai's First Flyover

Arrival and Departures were handled on the second level of the three-level terminal on an elevated roadway. Road traffic accessed the Terminal via a flyover (the first in the UAE) from the main road with open air car parking at ground level. Passengers access from the Terminal to the aircraft was by spiral ramps. The ramps were shaded from the sun but the passengers still exposed to the heat and humidity.

SkyJacking comes to Dubai

Security was not high on the list of Airport Terminal design requirements in the late 1960s. It proved remarkably easy for HiJackers to break through Dubai Airport Security perimeter and access aircraft on the tarmac. There were around five such incidents. The good news was these hi-jackings gave Dubai worldwide publicity.

The New Dubai Airport Terminal Version2

The first "New" Airport Terminal quickly proved to be too small to cope with Dubai growing passenger traffic. The Terminal underwent at least two major developments before the decision was made to build a totally new Dubai International Airport

Sheikh Rashid