Doha’s Hamad International (DOH) has emerged as world-class airport driven by various proactive steps taken in the past three years. The airport won several awards and continued with its expansion plans despite political blockades imposed on Qatar. In June 2020, Hamad International was ranked the ‘Third Best Airport in the World’ among 550 airports worldwide by the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2020. Climbing from fourth position in 2019 to third in 2020, DOH has been steadily rising in the ‘World’s Best Airports’ rankings since the start of its operations in 2014. Aside from an excellent third position in the global ratings, the airport had success in numerous other worldwide product and service categories such as transit airport (third), immigration processing (tenth), baggage delivery (tenth), terminal cleanliness (fifth), and leisure amenities (seventh). Hamad was also the best overall airport serving 30 to 40 million passengers. In addition, it has been voted the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the sixth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row. Hamad International also continues to retain its five-star airport classification since 2017. Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said: "Hamad International Airport continues to achieve a top position as a leading, global hub airport and the staff and management should be delighted by this recognition from customers. In 2020, Hamad International for the first time moved into the top three worldwide airports, which is a fabulous achievement." All these achievements are a result of the hard work and determination demonstrated by the airport staff, to make DOH the ‘world’s fastest growing airport’. Its rankings are also a result of its operational excellence. During 2019, the airport served a record 38,786,422 passengers (+12.4%), the most since the start of operations in 2014. Qatar’s airport invests in upskilling its people and building local talent. DOH recently launched ENJAZ, its national talent development programme created to grow, nurture and build its talent. The programme focuses on training and developing nationals in order to meet their role requirements in various departments of the airport to enhance job performance and build expertise, in co-operation with associations in the field of aviation, and in addition to prestigious local and international educational institutions to provide expanded development plans for national cadres. Eight new passenger destinations were added to DOH’s global network in 2019: Davao/Philippines, Rabat/ Morocco, Izmir/Turkey, Gaborone/Botswana, Langkawi/Malaysia, Mogadishu/Somalia, Malta, and Lisbon/ Portugal. Three new cargo destinations were also added to the network: Istanbul, New York, and Almaty. Fifteen airlines operating at DOH increased their weekly flight frequencies including Kuwait Airways, Salam Air, Philippine Airlines, Oman Air, and Air India Express. The airport also welcomed two new airline partners, Air India and Tarco Aviation. This led to handling a total of 232,917 aircraft movements in 2019 (+5.57%). DOH announced its multi-phased airport expansion plan in 2019. Phase A is set to comprise a central concourse linking Concourses D and E to increase the airport’s capacity to more than 53 million passengers annually by 2022. Phase B, which will be completed after 2022, will extend Concourses D and E to further enhance the airport’s capacity to more than 60 million passengers annually. The expansion project will also feature a 10,000 m² indoor tropical garden, a 268-m² water feature, 11,720 m² of landscaped retail and F&B space, and 9,000 m² of world-class Al Mourjan lounge. The expansion includes construction of a new cargo terminal that will increase capacity handled to an estimated 3.2 million tonnes per year. The state-of-the-art terminal is slated to be ready by 2023 and will be a multi-level facility with an 85,000 m² building footprint, across three levels as well as three mezzanine levels providing approximately 323,000 m² of gross floor area. DOH also introduced innovative solutions in 2019 to achieve operational excellence and enhanced passenger experience in the terminal. The airport implemented advanced software solutions for passenger forecasting and queue measurement which provides real-time passenger traffic forecasting as well as calculating waiting times and throughputs which are visualized on a live dashboard, allowing the airport to keep waiting times in check. The software has enabled the operational staff to be proactive and stay agile in the terminal’s dynamic environment. Along with DOH’s self-check-in and self-bag-drop kiosks, which were introduced in the terminal to provide passengers with a faster and smoother check-in process, the airport recently introduced ten automated security gates at the pre-immigration area, so passengers can scan their own boarding cards and proceed to immigration, enjoying a truly autonomous travel experience. #1130.5
---
The Qatar Company for Airports Operation and Management (MATAR) has announced multiphased expansion project plans for Hamad International Airport and the contracting companies and multiple joint ventures, which have been awarded expansion projects. The five contracting companies and joint ventures awarded expansion projects include the joint venture of Midmac Contracting, TAV Tepe Akfen Investment Construction, and Taisei Corporation (MTT), the joint venture of Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) and Teyseer Contracting Company (TCC), and the joint venture of Urbacon Trading & Contracting, Bahadir Construction and Tedeschia Construction Enterprises (UBT), as well as Beumer Doha and Al Jaber Engineering Company. The Western Taxiway & Stand Development Works contract, Package-0012, was awarded in October 2019 to the UBT joint venture. This infrastructure and utility focused expansion project will increase the operational capacity of DOH and add 39 aircraft stands. Works for this contract started in the fourth 2019 quarter. The Passenger Terminal Expansion Works, Central Concourse Building and Early Works (PTEW) was awarded to the MTT joint venture. The contract, Package-0013, was awarded in November 2019 and work started shortly after. The project will include an additional 140,000 m² of terminal building, located airside, adjoining the existing terminal building through Concourse C with an axis that will culminate into a central garden. It will include a new transfer area which will help shorten passengers’ connection time and will improve their overall transfer experience. This will also contribute to servicing the continued growth of DOH’s national carrier Qatar Airways. The Remote Transfer Baggage Facility Handling Systems (RTBF) and Building projects were also awarded in November 2019 and February 2020, respectively. This project is divided into two packages, Package-0014 and Package-0015. The first contract was awarded to Al Jaber Engineering Company to build the facility and started already, while the second contract was awarded to Beumer Doha to supply and install the baggage-handling system into the Remote Transfer Baggage Facility Building. Works for this package started in November 2019. The construction of the Remote Transfer Baggage Facility Handling Systems comprises an airside facility of approximately 34,000 m² to house the new state-of-the-art baggage-handling system. The new baggage facility will allow the capacity of the system to grow while ensuring minimal disruption to the existing airport operations during the construction phase, which is to be carried out landside and converted to airside upon completion. The Baggage-Handling System will be equipped with best-in-class high-capacity tote-based Individual Carrier System (TOTE/ICS) that provides fast, safe and flexible baggage handling from check-in to discharge with 100% accurate track and trace of baggage at every stage of the handling process. The Hold Baggage Screening System and equipment to be installed in the RTBF will be in compliance with the latest European Civil Aviation Committee (ECAC) Standard 3 requirements. The Western Fuel Farm & Midfield Fuel Farm Expansion Works contract, Package-0017, was awarded in November 2019 to the TCC joint venture. The project, which is divided into two packages, Midfield Fuel Farm Expansion and Western Fuel Farm, will fulfil the need of developing supporting facilities for the growing needs of DOH’s operations due to the new developments. Works for both packages began in December 2019 according to MATAR’s plan. The five-star airport is undertaking an expansion to meet the growing demand for air travel, enhance its position as the preferred gateway for travel and transit, and to accommodate the growth of its national carrier, Qatar Airways. DOH’s expansion plans, which were previously revealed in the fourth quarter of 2019 will be carried out in two phases, A and B. Phase A will include linking the North Node to the new Central Concourse. This phase of the airport’s expansion is set to increase the terminal’s handling capacity to more than 53 million passengers annually by 2022, when Qatar hosts the FIFA World Cup. Phase B of the expansion plan will further enhance the airport’s capacity to more than 60 million passengers annually to cater to the ever-growing demand in passenger and cargo traffic. The expanded terminal area will span across a total of 240,000 m² once completed and will be integrated with the existing terminal, allowing passengers to seamlessly transfer from one area to the other, enabling Hamad International to continue to operate with a single expansive terminal. Furthermore, the expansion works will not affect operations of the existing terminal, and passengers’ connection times will be maintained. Additionally, the expansion will also entail the construction of a new cargo terminal which will increase the capacity handled up to 5 million tonnes per year. Upon its completion, the terminal expansion will target to be the first in the MENA region to achieve a 4- star GSAS rating and will also achieve LEED Silver by including innovative measures of energy efficiency across the entire building, thus staying true to its commitment to improving environmental performance and effectively addressing climate change. Championing economic diversification and growth, the expansion will create additional highly skilled job opportunities in Qatar, boosting the country towards the attainment of its national vision. #1130.6
