85% are confident T3 opening will go smoothly

The opening of the new Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport, which begins in phases on Tuesday, will go smoothly, according to a large majority of Arabian Business readers.

Eighty-five percent of people who took part in our online poll dismissed suggestions that the opening could result in the same chaotic scenes that were seen at London Heathrow for the new Terminal 5.

Dubai Airports, Emirates Airline and Dubai Duty Free say the new facility will offer great dining, spectacular views, fabulous shopping and world-class lounges.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Airports and chairman & CEO, Emirates Airline & Group, said: “The new Emirates Terminal 3 at Dubai International will make a significant contribution to the far-reaching strategic plan and the vision for Dubai’s future.”

And a large majority of Arabian Business readers seem to agree. Thirty-five percent praised Emirates and airport chiefs for their preparations ahead of opening, which included three large-scale 'dummy runs' to test all aspects of operations within the terminal.

A further 50 percent of respondents thought that while there may be the odd teething problem - like a few delayed flights - they were confident nothing serious would go wrong.

Emirates alone will cater to more than 40 million passengers a year with the completion of Concourse 3 of the terminal while Dubai Duty Free will operate more than 8,000 square metres of retail space in T3 and will more than double its current retail operations at Dubai International.

But not everyone who took part in our poll was confident of T3 opening day success.

Eight percent of respondents predicted that many flights would be delayed and lots of baggage would be lost while another seven percent said they had postponed flights to avoid having to be at the airport during the opening of T3 because they feared it would be chaos.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM