Zayed International Airport, Abu Dhabi: Terminal A, a record 32.5m passengers, and what it did for Yas Island and Al Raha

Abu Dhabi’s new airport terminal was, for years, the emirate’s best-known stalled project. Built under the name Midfield Terminal, it was nearly finished and then frozen: the capital’s aviation strategy shifted and the contractor relationship broke down. Terminal A finally opened on 1 November 2023, and on 9 February 2024, at its official ceremony, the airport was given a new name: Zayed International.

The terminal in numbers

Metric	Value
Floor area	742 000 sq m
Capacity	45m passengers a year, up to 11 000 an hour
Aircraft stands	79 at the terminal at once
2025 passenger traffic	32.5m (+12.8% year on year), a record
Q4 2025	8.59m passengers (+13.8%)

In 2025 the airport repeatedly handled over 100 000 passengers in a single day. Terminal A is running at about 70% of design capacity, and the operator is already talking about expanding to 65m passengers a year. The growth tracks Etihad Airways’ own expansion: new routes bring both tourists and transit passengers who stay in the capital for a few days.

Why this matters to Yas and Al Raha

The airport sits right next to Yas Island and Al Raha Beach — a 10–15 minute drive to either. That makes both districts the natural choice for three tenant groups: airline and airport staff, families who fly often, and tourists in for Formula 1, the theme parks or concerts.

Yas is also growing in its own right: Miral has announced a further AED 12bn of investment on top of the coming Disneyland, which we covered in a separate piece, and Aldar is building out the island’s last waterfront cluster. A world-class airport 10 minutes away is what turns a tourist island into somewhere people are comfortable living full time.

What an investor should check

Proximity to the airport is a plus for rental demand, but not for every building. Check how a specific cluster sits relative to flight paths — aircraft noise shows up in resale price and time on market. The second issue is transport: Abu Dhabi still has no metro, and getting downtown depends on a car or taxi; we covered what is being built instead in our piece on the capital’s transport plans.

Short-term rentals on Yas benefit most from the record passenger numbers — a tourist flying in for a race or a theme park looks for accommodation right there. For long-term rentals, Al Raha is the steadier bet, with schools and offices close by.

Prices and projects near the airport are on our Yas Island and Al Raha Beach pages.