Bahrain marked the completion of its UAE-funded Bahrain International Airport expansion project with a flight to Abu Dhabi to "thank colleagues and friends" at the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) on Thursday.
The new terminal at Bahrain International Airport is four times the size of the existing one from which the last flight also departed before halting all operations.
A Bahraini delegation led by Minister of Transport and Communications Kamal bin Mohammed landed at the capital's Al Bateen Airport, making it the first flight to depart from the newly completed terminal in Manama.
The Minister was greeted by the ADFD's Director General Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi.
"Today, on the 28th of January, we are transferring the operations of Bahrain International Airport from the old to the new terminal," Mr bin Mohammed told The National.
The expansion, to which the UAE contributed $3.7 billion, has the capacity to accommodate 14 million passengers annually.
"We completed the project in record time, some four years from inception to operation," he said.
Construction on the project began in April 2016.
"This milestone is the culmination of years of careful planning and hard work. It marks the start of an exciting new chapter in the kingdom's rich aviation history and positions Bahrain International Airport as the most modern boutique airport in the region," said Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah, chief executive of Bahrain Airport Company.
The airport modernisation programme is considered Bahrain's "largest investment" to date in the kingdom's aviation sector, according to the country's state news agency.
Gates 1 to 3 at the new airport will be used by Bahrain's national carrier, Gulf Air, and the fourth terminal is allocated to all other airlines.
Abu Dhabi's national carrier Etihad said all flights to and from Bahrain would move to the new terminal at Bahrain's International Airport.
The 21,000 square-metre terminal features more than 100 check-in counters, 36 passport control offices, e-gates for departures and arrivals, and eight baggage reclaim belts as well as a hotel and spa with rooms, suites and 24 sleeping pods.
The terminal is also Bahrain's largest environment-friendly facility.
