Abu Dhabi International Airport will open its long-awaited and much anticipated Midfield Terminal Complex in November 2023, nearly seven years after the new terminal building was originally slated to open.
The 742,000 square metre Midfield Terminal should have opened in 2017 but the $3 billion project has been plagued by construction delays, as well as questions over whether Abu Dhabi would need such a big terminal as Etihad Airways scaled back its growth plans.
To be renamed Terminal A when it officially opens in November, the Midfield Complex was said to be more than 97% complete as long ago as late 2019, but work on the project ground to a standstill at the start of the pandemic a few months later.
In 2021, it was even reported that Abu Dhabi Airports had cancelled its contract with the construction company tasked with building the Midfield Terminal over major cost overruns.
Progress remained seemingly at a standstill until earlier this year when sources started to brief on a slated grand opening by the end of 2023. Ahead of an official announcement, the terminal building appeared in the opening sequence of the latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ film ‘Dead Reckoning – Part 1’.
“The opening of the facility, which is on par with the largest and grandest on our planet, turns over a new page in Abu Dhabi’s 55-year aviation history,” commented Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports on Thursday.
The building will be able to serve 45 million passengers per year, process 11,000 travellers per hour and operate 79 aircraft at any one time. Inside, there are 63 retail and food and beverage outlets covering 28,000 square metres, and a further 30,000 square metres of space will be dedicated to premium lounges.
