Inside the $4.8 billion ‘world’s most beautiful airport’

The airport: Zayed International Airport, Terminal A, Abu Dhabi

“Welcome to the world’s most beautiful airport,” is Etihad Airways’ bold salutation for Zayed International Airport Terminal A, its as good-as-new $US3 billion ($A4.8 billion) Abu Dhabi hub. (The airport received the title in December at the Prix Versailles, The World Architecture and Design Awards.)

Night lights and that spectacular structure.Credit: Alamy

While airport beauty can be in the eye of the ticket beholder, Zayed International was sufficiently alluring for Tom Cruise. He and his crew shot an extended scene (see below) for his spy action blockbuster, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One inside the airport’s cavernous Terminal A before its official opening to passengers in late 2023.

The flight

Etihad Airways, EY111, business class, Abu Dhabi to Barcelona.

The arrival

I arrive at Zayed International – the second-busiest airport in the United Arab Emirates after Dubai International – in the early evening from Muscat, Oman, a one-hour flight from Abu Dhabi, my departure point for an ungodly 2.25am connecting flight to Barcelona. If I’d arrived here via ground transport from Abu Dhabi’s city centre, the 30-minute taxi ride would have cost about $32.

The look

Inside Terminal A.Credit: Alamy

Designed by US architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, the Terminal A building of Zayed International Airport – named after Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the venerated royal founder of the UAE – is an arresting sight, especially when illuminated at night.

The terminal’s dramatically undulating roof was inspired by the ubiquitous sand dunes of the arid UAE landscape, while inside, the 50-metre-high departure hall is futuristic with its single roof, spanning 180 metres, supported by massive arches.

The X-shaped terminal’s four piers extend spider-like from the bustling central commercial core to 65 gates that can accommodate 59 aircraft, chiefly those of flagship Etihad, at any one time. Each gate is walkable within seven minutes of the core, rendering connecting transport superfluous.

Check-in

Economy passengers arriving by ground transport enter the terminal through doors one to three where there are 26 check-in desks and 14 self-service kiosks, as well as a help desk. Business class passengers arriving at Terminal A by ground transport benefit from a separate entrance and immigration lane.

Security

Seamless, with the airport equipped with the latest biometric face-recognition technology and CT scanners allowing for electronic devices to remain in carry-on.

Retail therapy

The usual suspects.Credit: Alamy

Terminal A conforms to the usual major international airport commercial playbook with its choice of global luxury and designer fashion brands represented among its more than 160 shops and food and beverage outlets spread across 35,000 square metres.

Food

No-one starves for choice here, with a wide variety of cuisines, including Middle Eastern, on offer but, like the shopping, don’t expect any real surprises or innovations. Antipodean travellers hankering for an authentic flat white and Australian-style cafe yummies should head to Jones the Grocer, the upscale food store chain that began and failed Down Under but succeeded abroad.

Passing time

Etihad’s first-class lounge.

Etihad’s chic business and first-class lounges unfold over three escalator and elevated-serviced levels, awaiting between Piers C and D (economy class passengers can access the lounges for a fee). Along with the Constellation Bar, with its 25-metre light sculpture within the rooftop lounge that’s meant to symbolise the Abu Dhabi night skyline, there’s the buffet-based Liwan restaurant, complete with cosy banquette-type seating. Elsewhere, Etihad’s first-class lounge offers a la carte dining and private deluxe suites with ensuite showers. For longer layovers between flights there’s the modest-looking, recently opened AUHotel Abu Dhabi Airport Transit Hotel within the departures and transit area.

One more thing

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017, is well overdue to be joined by the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, set for completion this year, with both institutions forming cornerstones of the UAE capital’s ambitious arts-rich Saadiyat Cultural District.

The verdict

While Zayed International is notably missing the imaginative elements that characterise its Singapore and Doha counterparts, it has undoubtedly made flying in and out of an ever-improving and compelling Abu Dhabi a mission eminently possible and even desirable.

Our rating

★★★★½

The writer travelled as a guest of Viking Cruises with the assistance of Etihad Airways. See vikingcruises.com.au; etihad.com