Abu Dhabi airport targets 14m passengers

Number of airlines operating from the facility is also expected to increase

Passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport is expected to hit 14 million by year-end, according to James Bennett, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Airports Company (Adac), marking an almost 13 per cent increase over the 12.4 million passengers in 2011.

“The primary driver is certainly Etihad and their continued delivery of aircraft and the partnerships they’ve been creating with airlines,” Bennett said. “But stronger growth in the tourism business in Abu Dhabi and economic development also drive additional traffic.”

There are 53 airlines operating through Abu Dhabi International Airport, which is also expected to increase, according to Bennett.

Dan Cappell,

senior

vice president, commercial at Adac, said they are finalising plans to update the retail mix at Terminal 3.

“We’ll change the retail offer. The brands that have been there have existed since 2009 when we opened Terminal 3; there are brands that have been hugely successful and there are brands which we can replace,” he said.

“We have one or two new exciting brands which will be coming to Terminal 3 next year,” he said.

This is expected to drive up duty-free sales. For the first half of the year, Abu Dhabi Duty Free announced sales revenue of Dh380.2 million, a 29 per cent increase over the same period last year. The year-end forecast is for sales over Dh770 million.

Midfield terminal

In June, Adac and TAV, CCC and Arabtec signed a Dh10.8 billion contract to construct the Midfield Terminal Building at the airport. Work is expected to start in this quarter and the 700,000 square metre terminal building is scheduled to be completed by 2017.