1. The park: There’s a well-equipped park for children on the righthand side of the road as you approach the main terminal (take the turn to Terminal 2, turn off the first roundabout). Excellent for anyone with kids living off the island, but the parking may be difficult as the most convenient space is used for long-term parking.

2. The merciless speed cameras: If you approach the airport from Mussaffah Bridge, the speed limit drops from 100kph to 80kph immediately past the exits for Khalifa City, and a camera is posted shortly beyond the signage. There’s also a zone just before the final approach to the terminals where the speed is posted as “maximum 60” -- and unlike most speed cameras in the capital that allow a 20kph buffer, here 60 really means 60 and not one kilometre more.

3. The travellers: What global recession? Despite the worldwide economic downturn in the past several months, the Abu Dhabi Airport is one of the busiest in the world – in 2009 it was able to achieve an increase of 7.3 percent in passenger growth.

4. The new tower: Seen that funky building that looks like an elephant’s trunk sticking up out of the ground? That’s the airport’s new 110m-high air traffic control tower, part of a plan of expansion that will cost nearly AED 26 billion when it’s all finished. Scheduled for completion later this year, this new tower will help accommodate the 12 million passengers the airport expects to serve by 2011.

5. The traffic: That new tower’s going to come in handy for the 53 air traffic controllers who oversee the increase in the number of total aircraft movements at Abu Dhabi airport from 93,163 in 2008 to over 100,000 in 2009. That’s a lot of planes to see safely on and off the ground. Keep up the good work, guys!

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