EXCLUSIVEIs this the world's best airport??直面する 承認 check-in, board direct from the lounge, no 列s... The Mail discovers that Abu Dhabi's £2.4billion Zayed International is a futuristic masterpiece
- The Mail's Ted Thornhill 飛行機で行くs in and out of Zayed International Airport - 終点 A
- He says that he feels like he's entered 'a utopian futurescape' - 'there’s no hassle, no general sense of despair'
- Christopher McQuarrie chose 終点 A for scenes in 使節団: Impossible ? Dead Reckoning Part One
- READ MORE:?How hard is it to land an 定期航空機 in a crosswind? We find out in a 777 lesson with a BA captain ?
This is an airport like no other - impressive enough to be a tourist attraction. So beautiful it’s worthy of a postcard. So spacious it should perhaps carry a 誘発する/引き起こす 警告 for agoraphobics.
Which makes the experience of 存在 a 乗客 in Abu Dhabi’s new Zayed International Airport ? 構成するing one 選び出す/独身 終点 A - an utterly surreal one.
There’s no hassle, no jostling, no general sense of despair. No one likes a 延期する but here it means the chance to gaze at the wonder of it all. I feel like I’ve entered a utopian futurescape.
NO EXPENSE SPARED?
終点 A cost a 冷静な/正味の $3billion (£2.4billion) to build and opened in November to 取って代わる the old 終点s 1, 2 and 3. It had been a long time coming, with the 契約s for construction 調印するd off in 2012 and the grand 明かすing 初めは (ーのために)とっておくd for 2017.
Now, it’s the home 中心 of the UAE’s 国家の 航空機による, Etihad, with its 指名する changing this year from Abu Dhabi International Airport to Zayed International Airport, after the UAE’s 設立するing Father, the late Sheikh Zayed 貯蔵所 暴君 Al Nahyan.
The 未来 of 空気/公表する travel: Ted Thornhill takes in the glittering magnificence of Abu Dhabi’s new Zayed International Airport 終点 A. Behind him is Sana Al Nour,?a 抱擁する vase-like structure consisting of 1,632 curved translucent glass パネル盤s that stands 22m (72ft) tall and 17m (55ft) wide
終点 A cost a 冷静な/正味の $3 billion (£2.4 billion) to build and opened in November to 取って代わる the old 終点s 1, 2 and 3. It’s the home 中心 of the UAE’s 国家の 航空機による, Etihad
STATE-OF-THE-ART DESIGN
The futuristic 中心 has been designed by the U.S architecture 会社/堅い Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), which was behind New York’s Hudson Yards コンビナート/複合体 and Atlantis The 王室の hotel in Dubai.
Within seconds, before reaching the check-in desks, I 結論する that with 終点 A the 会社/堅い has come up with a 近づく-perfect 概念. All airports should be like this.
The cavernous space by the 入り口 is 支配するd by an 取り付け・設備 called ‘Sana Al Nour’ ? a 抱擁する vase-like structure consisting of 1,632 curved translucent glass パネル盤s that stands 22m (72ft) tall and 17m (55ft) wide. Not just pretty on the 注目する,もくろむ, Sana Al Nour also 容易にするs energy-saving airflow for the entire 終点 building, 許すing for 冷静な/正味の 空気/公表する to pass through the 前線 and 最高の,を越す of it, while heat rises through the middle.
Sana Al Nour (above) 容易にするs energy-saving airflow for the entire 終点 building, 許すing for 冷静な/正味の 空気/公表する to pass through the 前線 and 最高の,を越す of it, while heat rises through the middle
I point my camera at the arching, operatic support 中心存在s that reach up into the roof. Little wonder, I muse, that director Christopher McQuarrie chose 終点 A to shoot some of the 劇の 開始 scenes for 使節団: Impossible ? Dead Reckoning Part One.
HASSLE-FREE CHECK-IN AND SECURITY
Forget 列ing - 特に if you take advantage of the airport’s ground-breaking biometric system.
終点 A is the only airport in the world where 乗客s can navigate through 移民/移住 and the check-in and 搭乗 過程 without the need for physical 文書s, thanks to biometric cameras placed at 戦略の points.
Ted checks in for his 商売/仕事-class flight with Etihad to Heathrow. He 令状s: 'This is an airport like no other - impressive enough to be a tourist attraction. So beautiful it’s worthy of a postcard. So spacious it should perhaps carry a 誘発する/引き起こす 警告 for agoraphobics'
終点 A is the only airport in the world where 乗客s can navigate through 移民/移住 and the check-in and 搭乗 過程 without the need for physical 文書s, thanks to biometric cameras placed at 戦略の points
Christopher McQuarrie chose 終点 A to shoot some of the 劇の 開始 scenes for 使節団: Impossible ? Dead Reckoning Part One
You still need to have your パスポート and other 文書s with you, but use facial 承認 and extra checks are 大いに 減ずるd, making for an even more seamless 過程.
I 港/避難所’t 登録(する)d for the ‘facial 承認 旅行’, but I 事実上 float through to 出発s にもかかわらず.
安全 is a leap 今後, too. All my liquids stay in my 捕らえる、獲得する for the cutting-辛勝する/優位 X-ray machine, overseen by shockingly polite staff, though my laptop has to be 除去するd.
AIRSIDE SHOPPING
After 安全, 乗客s enter?35,000 square metres of shopping heaven. Ted 令状s: 'Get ready to 浴びせる/消す your credit card, because several major designer brands have 始める,決める up shop, from Gucci to Yves Saint Laurent, Hermes to Ferragamo'
予算 buys are also 利用できる airside. There’s a Costa Coffee, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, McDonald’s, KFC, Jones the Grocer, Camden Food Co, Meat 地区 and a Todd English restaurant
Once through 安全, you enter a gleaming shopper’s 楽園 that covers 35,000 square metres.
Get ready to 浴びせる/消す your credit card, because several major designer brands have 始める,決める up shop, from Gucci to Yves Saint Laurent, Hermes to Ferragamo.
予算 buys are also 利用できる. There’s a Costa Coffee, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, McDonald’s, KFC, Jones the Grocer, Camden Food Co, Meat 地区 and a Todd English restaurant.
What strikes me, as I wonder hither and thither, is the tranquillity of it all.
ACRES OF SPACE
The airport can 扱う 45million 乗客s 毎年, 11,000 乗客s per hour and has stands for 79 航空機 (65 of which are connected to the building). 終点 A covers 742,000 square metres (about 二塁打 the size of Heathrow’s 終点 5) and has walkways almost big enough for a Dreamliner to trundle through.
If you lose a loved one, there’s no need to worry ? just WhatsApp using the airport’s 急速な/放蕩な, 解放する/自由な and password-いっそう少なく Wi-Fi.
HEADING FOR THE GATE
The airport (人命などを)奪う,主張するs a kerb-to-gate time of 12 minutes if you’re using the biometric 承認 system and you have a convenient 出発 gate. Arriving two hours before your flight shouldn’t be necessary here.
The gates are arranged along four tentacle-like 武器 that stretch out from a central 中心 to form an X 形態/調整. Each tentacle is 主題d 異なって, 代表するing Abu Dhabi’s natural landscapes of 砂漠, sea, city and oasis. Luton Airport this isn’t.
LUXURIOUS LOUNGES
The world-class Etihad lounge ? three 床に打ち倒すs of wanton (complimentary) 高級な for 商売/仕事, first class, and tier-status economy 乗客s
LEFT: Ted checks in to the 素晴らしい Etihad lounge. RIGHT: Ted receives a mocktail at the lounge 妨げる/法廷,弁護士業
The lounge 妨げる/法廷,弁護士業 features a live cooking 駅/配置する, above, which serves 地元の and international dishes
My 出発 experience finishes in the world-class Etihad lounge ? three 床に打ち倒すs of wanton (complimentary) 高級な for 商売/仕事, first class, and tier-status economy 乗客s.
There is a live cooking 駅/配置する serving 地元の and international dishes, a 妨げる/法廷,弁護士業 worthy of a five-星/主役にする hotel, 18 にわか雨 控訴s, games rooms for adults and children, and more modish seating that you can shake a neck pillow at.?
I am given a こそこそ動く peek at the first-class area, which features 招待するing 半分-cocooned 私的な seating areas 保護物,者d by elegant curtains.
Above is the adult games room in the Etihad lounge. There is a children's games room next door
Ted is?given a こそこそ動く peek at the first-class area (above), 'which features 招待するing 半分-cocooned 私的な seating areas 保護物,者d by elegant curtains'
Some of the gates connect to the lounge, which 直面するs the 滑走路, with 抱擁する e windows affording guests magnificent 見解(をとる)s of manoeuvring 計画(する)s ? 含むing A380 superjumbos. Above is the first-class lounge
The image above shows the general 緩和 area in the Etihad first-class lounge section
The airport c an 扱う 45million 乗客s 毎年, 11,000 乗客s per hour and has stands for 79 航空機 (65 of which are connected to the building)
Some of the gates connect to the lounge, which 直面するs the 滑走路, with 抱擁する windows affording guests magnificent 見解(をとる)s of manoeuvring 計画(する)s ? 含むing A380 superjumbos.
BOARDING THE PLANE
If you’re an Etihad lounge 使用者 and your flight is 出発/死ing from one of the gates connected to the lounge, you can board 直接/まっすぐに. 地雷 is. And it only takes a couple of minutes to go from 妨げる/法廷,弁護士業 to 空気/公表する 橋(渡しをする), with beaming staff on 手渡す to make sure I don’t take a wrong turn and 結局最後にはーなる in a にわか雨 控訴 by 事故.
As my 計画(する) 支援するs away from the airport, I admire the mesmerising wavy rooftop of the airport, which mirrors the UAE’s undulating dunes.
THE VERDICT? THAT’S EASY
Singapore’s Changi Airport was 指名するd the world’s best at the 2023 Skytrax World Airport Awards ? ‘the Oscars of the airport 産業’. It was the 12th time it had snared the gong. And given its acclaimed features, 含むing the world’s highest indoor waterfall and an ‘enchanted garden’, no one was surprised.
But that was before Zayed International Airport’s 終点 A burst upon the scene.
I would eat my 搭乗 pass if this sensational Abu Dhabi 事業/計画(する) doesn’t 安全な・保証する the 栄冠を与える next year.
The airport's 指名する changed this year from Abu Dhabi International Airport to Zayed International Airport, after the UAE’s 設立するing Father, the late Sheikh Zayed 貯蔵所 暴君 Al Nahyan
終点 A covers 742,000 square metres (about 二塁打 the size of Heathrow’s 終点 5) and has walkways 'almost big enough for a Dreamliner to trundle through'