Watching Dubai live
A380s all day at the busiest international hub in the world.
The layout
Dubai International has just two runways, 12L/30R and 12R/30L, parallel and close together, with the terminals between and around them. Terminal 3, Emirates' home, runs along the north side with Concourses A, B and C; Concourse A was built for the A380 with double-deck boarding gates. Terminals 1 and 2 serve the other airlines. What the airport lacks in runways it makes up for in pace: the two runways run as a pair, one for landings and one for take-offs, almost around the clock.
The desert surrounds the field, and the city's towers stand along the coast to the west.
How the flow works
Because the runways are so close together, they are operated as a segregated pair: one takes arrivals, the other departures, and the roles swap with the wind and through the day. Landings on the 30s come in from the south-east over the desert; on the 12s, from over the city and the Gulf.
Dubai's schedule is shaped by geography. Flights from Europe arrive through the evening and depart for Asia and Australia late at night; the reverse traffic arrives before dawn and leaves in the early morning. The result is that the small hours are some of the busiest of the day, and the night view, with the field lit and the city glowing to the west, is the best time to watch.
What to watch for
Emirates operates the largest fleets of A380s and 777s in the world, and here they line up nose to tail. Flydubai's 737s fill the gaps, and every major airline in Europe, Asia and Africa sends widebodies. In summer the heat makes long-haul departures climb slowly; in a shamal, the wind that brings sand from the north-west, visibility drops and the METAR shows haze.
The weather icon on the Dubai card is usually a sun. When it is not, something interesting is happening.
More airports
- LAXLos Angeles International AirportFour parallel runways beside the Pacific, and the busiest airport on the US west coast.
- ORDChicago O'Hare International AirportEight runways, two giant hubs, and weather that keeps everyone on their toes.
- ATLHartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International AirportThe busiest airport on Earth: five parallel runways and an arrival every minute.
- DXBDubai International AirportA380s all day at the busiest international hub in the world.
- LHRLondon Heathrow AirportTwo runways running flat out, Terminal 5 at the west end.
- JFKJohn F. Kennedy International AirportCrossing runway pairs on Jamaica Bay, the AirTrain circling the terminals.
- SANSan Diego International AirportOne runway between the bay and downtown, and the steepest approach in the country.
- AMSAmsterdam Airport SchipholSix runways four metres below sea level, and a fifteen-minute taxi to the Polderbaan.
- DFWDallas/Fort Worth International AirportSeven runways on a site the size of Manhattan, Skylink threading the half-moon terminals.
- HNDTokyo Haneda AirportAsia's busiest airport: four runways on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, one standing on piers.
- BKKSuvarnabhumi AirportThree parallel runways around one vast terminal on the marsh east of the city.
- GRUSão Paulo/Guarulhos International AirportSouth America's busiest airport: two parallel runways on the plateau north-east of the biggest city in the hemisphere.
- SYDSydney Kingsford Smith AirportAustralia's busiest airport: two parallel runways reaching out into Botany Bay, and a third across them.
- SINSingapore Changi AirportThree parallel runways on reclaimed land at the eastern tip of the island, and the best-run hub in the world.
- HKGHong Kong International AirportThree parallel runways on an island built for the purpose, between the sea and the mountains of Lantau.