Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Dubai International Airport (OMDB/DXB) is the primary international gateway to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, sited in the Al Garhoud district close to the city centre. It is one of the world's busiest airports, serving as the main hub for Emirates and flydubai, and for the simulator pilot it offers a dense, radar-controlled environment with two very long parallel runways set against the Dubai skyline.
Dubai International is the primary and historically the founding civil airport of Dubai, operated by the Dubai Airports Company and serving as the principal hub for Emirates and the low-cost carrier flydubai, with Coyne Airways and PIA also basing operations there. It is one of the busiest airports in the world by international passenger traffic and ranks among the busiest for wide-body movements, including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777. For a virtual pilot it is chiefly of interest as a major heavy-jet hub: two long parallel hard-surfaced runways, a dense terminal complex, and constant airline traffic against the backdrop of the Dubai skyline.
The airport lies in the Al Garhoud district of Dubai, close to the city centre and within the built-up area of the Emirate of Dubai. It sits at an elevation of 26 feet and is a major controlled aerodrome handling continuous international airline traffic; as such it operates within busy controlled airspace typical of a large hub airport, with radar and instrument approach procedures in use rather than informal VFR joining arrangements.
The airport has two parallel physical runways. One pair, 12L/30R, is a hard-surfaced, lit runway equipped with ILS, with a declared length of 12,782 feet from the 12L threshold and 13,272 feet from the 30R threshold. The other, 12R/30L, is likewise hard-surfaced, lit and ILS-equipped, with a declared length of 11,787 feet from the 12R threshold and 14,139 feet from the 30L threshold. Both runways are among the longest in commercial use, reflecting the airport's role as a major hub for long-haul wide-body operations.
Published frequencies for the airport include Arrival ATIS on 124.9 MHz and 126.275 MHz, Departure ATIS on 131.7 MHz and 124.45 MHz, Ground on 118.35 MHz, and Tower on 118.75 MHz. All four runway ends are equipped with ILS, supporting instrument approaches in the airport's dense traffic environment.
As a major international hub handling continuous airline traffic, Dubai International is operated entirely under air traffic control with radar and instrument procedures rather than informal visual circuit joining; light aircraft or visual circuit flying is not a feature of normal operations here.
Civil aviation at Dubai began in July 1937, when an agreement was signed to establish a flying boat base for Imperial Airways, with the rental of the base set at about 440 rupees a month, a sum that included the guards' wages. The Empire Flying Boats initially operated once a week to Karachi and Southampton, increasing to four services a week by February 1938. Through the 1940s the base was used by British Overseas Airways Corporation flying boats on the Horseshoe route linking Southern Africa, the Persian Gulf and Sydney. Construction of a purpose-built airport was ordered by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in 1959, and the airport officially opened on 30 September 1960 with a 1,800-metre compacted-sand runway able to handle aircraft the size of a Douglas DC-3, together with three turning areas, an apron and a small terminal, built by Costain and designed by International Aeradio. Construction of a 2,800-metre asphalt runway began in May 1963 and opened in May 1965 alongside the original sand runway and taxiway; a lighting system was completed in August 1965. During the second half of the 1960s the airfield gained a VOR and an ILS along with new buildings. The airport's inauguration for large jet traffic came on 15 May 1966, marked by the arrival of de Havilland Comets of Middle East Airlines and Kuwait Airways; by 1969 it was served by nine airlines to around twenty destinations. The advent of wide-body aircraft in the 1970s prompted further development of terminals, runways and taxiways to handle international jet traffic.
Dubai International today functions as the principal hub for Emirates, which accounts for around 51 percent of passenger traffic and roughly 42 percent of aircraft movements, and for the low-cost carrier flydubai, which handles about 13 percent of passengers and 25 percent of movements. The airport also serves as an operating base for Coyne Airways and PIA. It is a major cargo gateway in addition to its passenger role, and its two runways support very high movement rates for a two-runway airport, with thousands of weekly flights operated by numerous airlines to destinations across every inhabited continent.
