Abu Dhabi’s upcoming airport terminal has achieved a string of milestones, showing it is on track for its slated 2017 opening.

Described as the “future gateway to the capital city”, the environmentally-friendly Midfield Terminal Building (MTB) will be the largest singular building in the emirate. And with passenger traffic through the existing terminals reaching record highs month-on-month, MTB is a welcome addition to Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure.

MTB’s latest progress box check came when Abu Dhabi Airports awarded contracts to international companies to provide duty free services.

Leading airport retail management company Aer Rianta International will operate spaces for perfumes, cosmetics, skincare, sunglasses and jewellery, while Lagardère, a global leader in travel retail, will oversee tobacco, confectionery and fine foods together with Abu Dhabi Capital Group.

Construction has begun on the terminal’s fire station that will house on-site personnel and equipment to respond to emergency situations 24/7.

Speaking on the development, HE Ali Majed Al Mansoori, chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: “Our aim is to be able to respond to fires in less than four minutes and to get to an emergency in any area in which aircraft movements take place in less than two minutes.”

Another major milestone was the installation of the first three boarding bridges, which have numerous uses besides simply acting as a walkway onto an aircraft.

Al Mansoori explained: “We are using the latest in smart airport technology for the Midfield Terminal Building. Each of our new passenger boarding bridges will interface with the Visual Docking Guidance Systems, which direct aircraft to their gate parking positions. All of our bridges also have anti-collision sensors to protect aircraft from damage.”

MTB in numbers

172 firefighters will be on hand at the fire station
106 total number of boarding bridges to be installed
65 number of new gates the terminal will provide
28k Square metres of duty free space
45million Overall annual airport capacity once MTB is operational