DUBAI - MANAGING THE FUTURE

Dubai International Airport is undertaking the first operational airport expansion with the A380 in mind. It is the world's fastest- growing facility, with traffic rising 20 percent annually. Its record-setting expansion contract ($4.1 billion) includes a new Terminal 3, concourses 2 and 3, a new mega-terminal for cargo and more. This work is intended to allow airport operations to expand to be able to handle 70 million passengers a year by 2008. To manage this growth, airport officials have purchased and implemented a completely integrated suite of airport information and systems operations software. Common-use infrastructure, sharing airport systems and space will enable the most seamless way to maximize passenger capacity and allow gates and ticket counters to be re-assigned as needed. Self- service kiosks will speed check-in and reduces the need for counter space. Also machines that are compliant with the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) Common Use Self Service (CUSS) standards can use any similarly compliant system without re- engineering, so more than one carrier can use the kiosks. Using intelligent gate assignment software will make it possible to accommodate the A380 without causing needless congestion as large numbers of passengers move on and off the aircraft. The end result is that the IT suite will be consistent across all applications and provide real-time information to enable dynamic management of airport facilities.