New Emirates terminal opened in Dubai

This week saw the opening of Terminal 3, the new home of the airline Emirates, at Dubai International Airport.

The first flight to depart from the new terminal was a service bound for Doha, which carried 136 passengers, including 27 business class travellers.

Other flights departed bound for Kuwait, Bahrain and Riyadh, while services arrived from Jeddah, Houston, Sao Paulo and other destinations.

Passengers made use of the traditional check-in counters as well as the self-service kiosks and all baggage systems reportedly ran smoothly.

Emirates chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said: "Today our customers tasted the fruit of years of planning, investments and commitment.

"While we were quite confident of the robust systems and facilities, today was still a day of reckoning and we are delighted that our operations worked as planned."

The second phase of Terminal 3's opening, to commence soon, will include flights to the rest of the Middle East and Africa, while Emirates' services to Europe from Dubai will be brought to the new terminal in the third launch phase.

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