777way From Pakistan, joined Dec 2005, 5155 posts, RR: 4 Posted (3 months 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 15223 times:
This was posted by someone at another board, according to them it could be anywhere from 1980 to 86 if the aircraft on the right is a Boeing 720 which PIA phased out starting 1985, while A300 joined them in 1980.
Quokkas From Australia, joined Jan 2012, 1355 posts, RR: 9 Reply 1, posted (3 months 2 days ago) and read 15038 times:
What an amazing contrast to the scene in Dubai today. It certainly highlights how rapid the growth of both aviation in Dubai and Dubai as a destination has been.
Thanks for posting.
“Not to laugh, not to cry, not to hate, but understand.” Spinoza
ek433 From New Zealand, joined Mar 2009, 21 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 14540 times:
Open for correction but the Gulf Air 737 would suggest pre 1985? As one of the main reasons for Emirates' creation was due to Gulf Air withdrawing its services to Dubai no?
LondonCity From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2008, 1196 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 14519 times:
Quoting ek433 (Reply 2): As one of the main reasons for Emirates' creation was due to Gulf Air withdrawing its services to Dubai no?
Correct. Dubai is a trading centre and so can only prosper with connectivity to the outside world. In the early 1980s, Gulf Air was more interested in expanding its long-haul network out of Bahrain and that is why Emirates c
flyingalex From Germany, joined Jul 2010, 992 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (3 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 14261 times:
Just goes to show what a backwater Dubai was until fairly recently. Amazing how much they've built and expanded since then. No wonder the whole place seems to artificial.
Public service announcement: "It's" = "it is". To indicate posession, write "its." Looks wrong, but it's correct grammar
cargolex From United States of America, joined Apr 2010, 1153 posts, RR: 9 Reply 5, posted (3 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 13853 times:
Quoting ek433 (Reply 2): Open for correction but the Gulf Air 737 would suggest pre 1985?
From the cars in the parking lot, this looks like 1982-1983. There's nothing newer than 1983 in there that I can see, but this is definitely after 1980 as there are several 1980-or-newer GM B-body cars in the lot, and these were popular cars in the middle east.
fraapproach From Germany, joined Oct 2010, 53 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 months 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 13687 times:
I visited to Dubai with my family in late 1989 on the EK A310 FRA-IST-DXB. I just had a look at my pics and I believe the terminal was still the same without any airbridges etc. by then. We lived at the Jebel Ali Hotel which was remote from Dubai on a lonesome beach. The southern Dubai city limits where around the world trade center tower which was the only highrise in Dubai. I also have great memories of Al Ain, AbuDhabi and Hatta - especially the Hatta Fort Hotel from these times. I went back to DXB in 2007and 2011 and I must say it has lost its magic to me.
Gr8Circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2985 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (3 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 12096 times:
I passed through DXB on my way to the US on an AI 742 in 1983, and we were allowed to get off the plane and go into the terminal as transit passengers.......this pic certainly looks like the way it was then....we were probably parked roughly where the PK A300 is in the pic.....
What struck me then were the vast empty spaces stretching out on both sides of the terminal (way outside the area appearing in the pic).......those spaces were filled up to form the present day terminals.....even back then, a lot of that space was properly tarmacced......the terminal was small but quite neat......not too many flights on the ground and passengers in the terminal.....of course, EK didn't even exist at that time
EK413 From Australia, joined Nov 2003, 3895 posts, RR: 4 Reply 9, posted (3 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 11980 times:
I'm curious where concourse 3 is located in that image... It's amazing how far DXB grown since the image was taken back in the 80's...
Quoting cargolex (Reply 5): From the cars in the parking lot, this looks like 1982-1983. There's nothing newer than 1983 in there that I can see, but this is definitely after 1980 as there are several 1980-or-newer GM B-body cars in the lot, and these were popular cars in the middle east.
ek433 From New Zealand, joined Mar 2009, 21 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (3 months 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 10523 times:
Quoting EK413 (Reply 11): I forgot the concourse's have been renamed A,B,C,D
A very easy mistake, it constantly gets reported as, Terminal 4, Concourse 3 or Concourse A! It will be interesting if the new terminal facilities to the north of Terminal 2 are called Terminal 4 or just become another concourse!
Quokkas From Australia, joined Jan 2012, 1355 posts, RR: 9 Reply 15, posted (3 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 7588 times:
Quoting ek433 (Reply 12): It will be interesting if the new terminal facilities to the north of Terminal 2 are called Terminal 4 or just become another concourse!
I read in one of the reports from Dubai Airport that there would be Concourses A - F, with A being the dedicated A380 Terminal, T3 concourse 1 becoming B, Terminal 1 becoming C, a new Concourse D to be built to the west of C. Terminal 2 was indicated as Concourse F with a "future facility" marked as E to the east of F.
As you say, it does get confusing with the various changes.
“Not to laugh, not to cry, not to hate, but understand.” Spinoza
EK413 From Australia, joined Nov 2003, 3895 posts, RR: 4 Reply 16, posted (3 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 7491 times:
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 15): I read in one of the reports from Dubai Airport that there would be Concourses A - F, with A being the dedicated A380 Terminal, T3 concourse 1 becoming B, Terminal 1 becoming C, a new Concourse D to be built to the west of C. Terminal 2 was indicated as Concourse F with a "future facility" marked as E to the east of F.
I believe this will answer all your questions E has been reserved for future development...
factsonly From Montserrat, joined Aug 2012, 300 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (3 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 6831 times:
These pictures show 1980s DXB in daylight, but it is important to remember that DXB rush hour was at night!
Around mid-night many Europe-Asia-Australia flights passed through the airport for crew changes and refueling. This peak was followed by another wave of Australia-Asia-Europe flights later in the night. So the busy DXB operation pictures would have been taken at night.
airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6868 posts, RR: 7 Reply 21, posted (3 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 3403 times:
Quoting fraapproach (Reply 7): I went back to DXB in 2007and 2011 and I must say it has lost its magic to me.
I feel the same way about Singapore. I lived in Singapore on and off between 1985 and 1990 and was able to see some of the transformation there, but it's an entirelly different country today from what I remember.
Quoting factsonly (Reply 19): Around mid-night many Europe-Asia-Australia flights passed through the airport for crew changes and refueling.
I think the point of the topic was the infrastructure but you're right of course. I myself passed thru Dubai in the middle of the night a few times and I still have a cardboard box full of pirated copies of music casset tapes from that era which DXB duty free was notorious for selling.
kwi From Kuwait, joined Apr 2000, 139 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (3 months 23 hours ago) and read 3031 times:
What a great photo! I remember first travelling to Dubai in 1993, and I remember looking at the airport from the car and I remember the distinctive arches.
I last visited the old airport in 1995, travelling from Kuwait to London through Dubai (the aircraft between KWI and DXB were 727s, and A300s to LHR...
I'm really glad the building hasn't been demolished.
Not sure if anyone's already mentioned, but what is that building used for now? Offices?
25 dhr: Christ this photo makes me feel old, the photo would be pre-1980 and a few years later they began to construct the first termials concourse to the lef
26 Gr8Circle: The picture posted by EK413 is pre-1980, in fact I think it's from the late 1960s.....it's interesting to note that the planes were parked with their
27 Viscount724: DXB airport early 1960s. Runway then was compacted sand. 4th photo was the arrival ceremony for an official visit by King Hussein of Jordan (standing
28 EK413: Future development with F gates allocated to Terminal 2... E is reserved for future development... EK413
29 mozart: VERY interesting topic, and indeed fascinating to see how the airport has developed over time. Interesting to see as well that the hub of one of the o