April 5- Dubai International Airport’s Concourse Three (C3) is on track to open its gates at the end of 2012, when it will become the world’s first Airbus A380 dedicated facility of its size. Construction of C3 began in early 2008. The new concourse, which aims to increase passenger capacity at Dubai International Airport from the current 60 million passengers a year to 75 million passengers a year, is an extension and continued development of Concourses 1 and 2.
C3 is designed to be used only by Emirates Airline. The shape of the facility will be similar to Concourse 2 and it will have a total built up area of 528,000 square meters with 20 aircraft contact gates, 18 of which will be dedicated to A380 aircraft. “Dubai Airports will continue to invest in aviation infrastructure to accommodate growth. Our strategy is to have capacity lead demand, so we never have to constrain aviation growth and the considerable economic and social benefits it drives” said Anita Mehra, Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications for Dubai Airports.