It’s been another busy airport week with stories pouring in from all corners of the world. It’s equally been a busy week here at LateDeparture as we’ve done a little marketing blast for our recently launched airport-only-trip with OutTrippin. Check it out for yourself.
It’s a new year and we’re back in action. We trust, you all had a nice Christmas and a Happy New Year. On our end, even though we took a break from publishing, loyal followers would know that we didn’t shut our eyes for interesting airport news. In fact we published 15 tweets of interesting developments through our Twitter account over the past 2 weeks. Let us now recap the most interesting or important ones.
We try to stay out of global politics, however, when those politics affect flying passengers at airports around the world, we surely want to report it. So this week we have a story involving troubled Syria for you. Other than that we found more of the “regular” news bites from Dubai, Taipei and Glasgow.
Another busy aviation related airport week has passed and with that news about missing cats, stranded passengers a new runway, the world’s worst airports and a frequent renaming of a US airport nicely filled our inbox. Let’s start chronologically:
I counted 34 camels and found millions of barrels of black gold at Abu Dhabi International Airport (Arabic: مطار أبو ظبي الدولي; IATA: AUH). Well, upon closer inspection the camels were stuffed and more aimed at children (and anyone shy of a bring-home gift for their young ones). And the oil barrels turned out to be a bit of a mirage.
But is everything a mirage in the airport of the capital of the United Arab Emirates? Not really. The shiny terminal 2 which was built to accommodate the fast growing number of passengers before the new Terminal 3 will be opened later this year is definitely real. It’s real but it lacks a bit of character. More of the latter can be found in Terminal 1 which reminds you of the days when this was a small desert airport serving mainly business people from the Emirates capital. These days the airport is the main hub for the UAE’s national carrier, Etihad Airways. Founded in 2004 the airline already serves 45 destinations and has even ordered the new Airbus A380. It’s no surprise then that the airport is a 24-hour operation with shops and restaurants constantly serving the arriving and departing of mostly transiting passengers.
Besides looking for black gold or animals, there a some other things you can actually do between your flights:
Check out the food court on the first floor of Terminal 2 – you will find something for everyone (Upper Crust, Burgerking, Gino’s Pizza, Yum Cha Asian Food, Oriental buffet, bars and coffee shop)
Stretch your legs and walk to terminal one (about a 10 minute walk). There you will also find free internet terminals
Visit the food store on the lower ground floor of Terminal 1 where you can find some products from the Emirates (dates, nuts, etc.)
If you have some more time and are in desperate need of a shower, check in to the airport’s own transit hotel