On February 9, 2024, Abu Dhabi International Airport officially changed its name to Zayed International Airport, in honour of UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The name change, approved by President Sheikh Mohamed, coincided with the official opening of Terminal A – a $3 billion building that has doubled its capacity and manages up to 45 million passengers a year.
The architecturally striking Zayed International Airport, named the most beautiful airport in the world in 2024, covers more than 742,000 square metres, and is one of the largest airport terminals on the planet.
Its launch marked the official closure of Terminals 1, 2 and 3 nearby, the first of which opened more than four decades ago, in January 1982.
Designed by famed French architect Paul Andreu, the man behind Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Abu Dhabi's Terminal 1 was a landmark of regional modernism, in that it blended the simplicity and functionality of modernist architectural principles with UAE-specific influences and motifs, rather than a generic design. A standout feature was a striking curved ceiling at the circular waiting area near the arrival and departure gates.
Passengers entered the area through a sloping walkway that slowly revealed the design. The ceiling dropped downwards, covered in lime green and blue tiles that formed an Islamic pattern.
Terminal 2 opened in 2005 and Terminal 3 in 2009, the latter used by Etihad Airways. A 109-metre control tower was completed in 2011 and was the seventh tallest in the world at the time.
Zayed International and the now decommissioned terminals of Abu Dhabi International are all part of the third airport to be built in the emirate, after the demands of the city outgrew the airstrips at Al Bateen, about 25 minutes away.
Opened in 1968, Al Bateen was Abu Dhabi's first international airport, located in what was then a desert just outside the city boundaries. It was one of several great infrastructure projects from the first years of Sheikh Zayed’s rule, including Maqta Bridge and Mina Zayed.
Al Bateen became a military facility and was also used for private jets. Now known as Al Bateen Executive Airport, it was expanded in 2022 to accommodate wide-bodied jets and is still operational.
The first “proper” airport in Abu Dhabi, however, was built in the mid-1950s, the old control building still standing today on the grounds of the Abu Dhabi Media building in the city, off Muroor Road. While it is being preserved it is not open to the public.
Flights landed in Abu Dhabi long before that, however. As far back as 1929, a Royal Air Force flying boat touched down just off what is now the Corniche on a reconnaissance mission to find new air routes to British India.
