Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB, ICAO: OMDB) is an international airport serving Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates. It is a major aviation hub in the Middle East, and is the main airport of Dubai. It is situated in the Al Garhoud district, 4 km (2.5 mi) southeast of Dubai. The airport is operated by the Department of Civil Aviation and is the home base of Dubai's international airline, Emirates and Emirates SkyCargo; the Emirates hub is the largest airline hub in the Middle East ; Emirates handles 60% of all passenger traffic, and accounts for 38% of all aircraft movements at the airport. Dubai Airport is also the base for low-cost carrier, Flydubai. As of July 2010, there are over 6,000 weekly flights operated by 130 airlines to over 220 destinations across every continent except Antarctica.
The airport was the 15th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic handling 40.9 million passengers in 2009. The airport was also the 4th busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. In addition to being an important passenger traffic hub, the airport is the 7th busiest cargo airport in world, handling 1.927 million tonnes of cargo in 2009, a 5.6% increase compared to 2008 As of July 2010, DXB is the 8th busiest airport in the world by cargo traffic, and the 13th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic.
The new $4.5 billion Terminal 3 opened on 14 October 2008, and was built exclusively for the use of Emirates Airline. Concourse 3 is also part of Terminal 3, and is expected to be completed by 2011. It will be built exclusively for the Emirates Airbus A380. Terminal 3 added 1.5 km2 (0.58 sq mi) to the airport and is the single largest building in the world by floor space. Dubai International Airport will be complemented by Al Maktoum International Airport (Dubai World Central International Airport), a new 140 km2 (54 sq mi) airport that will help handle the influx of travellers well into the future. It began cargo operations on 27 June 2010 and is expected to begin passenger operations by March 2011.