Last week, the new home of the Emirates airline was finally opened – Terminal 3 at the Dubai International Airport.

The Terminal’s flights are beginning in a phased operation, so the first flight carried 136 passengers to Doha on an Emirates service.

The honour of being the first passenger to check in at the new terminal on a first class flight was Jamal Nasser Lootah, who is the Executive Director for Industrial Affairds for the ministry of economy at the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Lootah said that the new Terminal 3 should be

‘a pillar that contributes to the prosperity of Dubai’

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.’

In the new terminal’s first day of operations, flights came in from countries and destinations as diverse as New York, Sao Paulo, Jeddah and Houston, amongst others.  Flights departed for places such as Bahrain, Riyadh and Kuwait.

The next phase of the terminal’s opening is due to start shortly and will include commencing flights to Africa and the Middles East.  The European flights are not due to start until the third phase of Terminal 3.