The UAE’s Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal Building’s (MTB) opening is reportedly scheduled to take place around December 2023.
Quoting an update from Momberger Airport Information, Airports Council International World (ACI World) said, Abu Dhabi’s new Midfield Terminal Building (MTB) will open towards the end of 2023.
“The opening will likely take place on 2 December, the UAE’s National Day. Construction on the new complex started in 2012,” ACI world said.
The project was due for completion in 2017 but has faced several delays. In 2019, Abu Dhabi Airport’s then CEO Bryan Thompson had said the project stood at 97.6% completion.
Once opened, MTB will accommodate up to 11,000 passengers per hour or about 45 million passengers annually. Terminals 1 and 2 will be shut down permanently, while T3, the latest addition, will likely be mothballed.
Depending on traffic development, at one point it could be used again during peak times as a remote boarding lounge. It could also be developed into a standalone terminal including landside, for example, for budget carriers.
There is a road tunnel leading from the midfield to the present terminal, which would facilitate easy connections for passengers. The midfield terminal can also be expanded with a satellite boarding concourse. Another tunnel, which can accommodate an APM is already present.
MTB is planned to become one of the region’s largest facilities of its kind. Its designs envision handling capacity for tens of millions of annual passengers and a baggage handling system that can process almost half a million bags a day, according to a Wam report from July 2019.