Meet In Abu Dhabi: Emirati Appeal

The UAE capital has a plethora of offerings that attract event planners, and business and leisure tourists, finds Neha Gupta Kapoor.

- Neha Gupta Kapoor

By December 2017, Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) will have a new development — Midfield Terminal Building (MTB) with a handling capacity of 30 million passengers per year or 8,500 passengers per hour. Gradually, once it is completed, AUH says it will become “the primary gateway” to the emirate and “the future home of Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the UAE”.

Currently, Terminal 3 of AUH is dedicated to Etihad Airways’ departures and arrivals, with a handling capacity of “over 12 million passengers per year”. Terminals 1 and 2 serve the 33 other passenger airlines that use the airport, including Etihad’s partner airline, Jet Airways.

Together, all three terminals received 5,84,255 international passengers in June 2016. (The number doesn’t include transit and transfer passengers.) Of these, Abu Dhabi Airports Statistics System computed that the highest number of arrivals were from India — 1,29,047 passengers.

Despite facing challenges of a stronger dollar and lower oil prices, India has unfailingly made up a sizeable chunk of Abu Dhabi’s inbound tourism. This stirs little surprise as AUH has direct flights to 15 Indian airports to keep up with the demand.

Bejan Dinshaw, country manager — India of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (ABTCA) says, “With an option of more than 250 flights per week by Jet Airways and Etihad Airways, and being only four hours away, Abu Dhabi is all the more approachable to Indians.”

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