Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Zayed International Airport, formerly Abu Dhabi International, is the principal gateway to the United Arabic Emirates capital and the hub for Etihad Airways, with two widely-spaced runways each exceeding 13,000 feet. For a simulator pilot it offers a large, modern Gulf hub environment with full ILS coverage on both runway ends and a striking new Terminal A that opened in November 2023.
Zayed International Airport (ICAO: OMAA), renamed from Abu Dhabi International Airport in February 2024 in honour of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is the primary international airport serving Abu Dhabi. It is operated by Abu Dhabi Airports Company and serves as the hub for Etihad Airways and Etihad Cargo, and as an operating base for Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. For a simulator pilot it is a notable Gulf hub airfield: two very long parallel runways, extensive ILS coverage, and a dramatic new terminal building make it an engaging destination for heavy and general aviation operations alike.
The airport lies around 16.5 nautical miles east of the city of Abu Dhabi, on the UAE mainland, and covers some 15,000 acres. It sits within the wider Abu Dhabi terminal airspace structure, with approach control handling inbound and outbound traffic ahead of the tower frequency.
The airfield has two parallel physical runways. Runway 13R/31L is 13,452 feet long, hard surface, lit, and equipped with ILS at both thresholds. Runway 13L/31R is approximately 13,439 to 13,440 feet long (the two ends recorded fractionally differently), also hard surface, lit, and ILS-equipped at both ends. Field elevation is 72 feet.
Approach control operates on 124.4 MHz, the ATIS broadcasts on 125.1 MHz, and the tower frequency is 119.2 MHz. Both runways are served by ILS, giving instrument approach capability to either 13L/31R or 13R/31L.
The site was first conceived in 1974 as part of government plans to replace the original Abu Dhabi International Airport on Abu Dhabi Island, now Al Bateen Executive Airport, which had become constrained by its island location and a single bridge connection to the mainland. Construction began in 1979 and the new airport was inaugurated on 2 January 1982, becoming one of four hubs for the then quadri-national Gulf Air. On 25 October 1977, before the new airport opened, Emirati minister Saif Ghobash was shot dead in an assassination attempt on Syrian Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam at the airport. On 23 September 1983 Gulf Air Flight 771 crashed on approach to the airport. Etihad Airways was founded by royal decree in 2003 and became the airport's new home airline following the UAE government's exit from Gulf Air ownership in 2005. Terminal 2 opened in September 2005 to relieve the main terminal, a second runway (13L/31R) opened in October 2008, and Terminal 3, an interim facility built ahead of a planned Midfield Terminal, opened in January 2009. The airport gained a United States border preclearance facility, the only one in the Middle East, with Etihad operating its first precleared flight to the US on 25 January 2014. Between 2018 and 2019 the airport was the subject of several claimed drone attack incidents attributed to Houthi forces in Yemen, though UAE authorities stated operations continued as normal. The airport was renamed Zayed International Airport on 9 February 2024.
The long-planned Midfield Terminal, known as Terminal A, opened in November 2023 and is designed to handle up to 45 to 80 million passengers a year, consolidating operations previously spread across the older terminal buildings. The airport remains the hub for Etihad Airways and Etihad Cargo and an operating base for Air Arabia Abu Dhabi and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, connecting to well over a hundred destinations worldwide.
