GMW Architects was appointed by TAV, the Turkish/Egyptian joint-venture contractor for the construction of this new airport terminal.

The original design had been produced in the early 1990s, but it took a decade to secure funding for the project and appoint a contractor.

Our primary contribution was to the interior planning and design of the terminal and this included upgraded security, enhanced retail and business traveller facilities and improvements to the lighting, both natural and artificial.

The completed 198,000 square metre terminal is designed to handle 11 million passengers a year and doubles the airport’s previous capacity. Two piers connect to the main building via concourses and serve international and domestic traffic with a combination of contact and remote gates.

These piers are designed with expansion potential and two gate-lounges are equipped to handle the super-jumbo Airbus A380 aircraft.

The new design takes into account a particular characteristic of Middle Eastern society. In the West, airport design assumes an average of one person accompanying each traveller. However, the design for Cairo Terminal 3 provides for an average of six people accompanying every passenger and to accommodate a peak hour rate of just over 2,000 passengers, the terminal has sufficient space for 12,000 non-travellers.

The project includes large areas of apron for gates and remote stands, aircraft taxiways, a control tower, an extensive road network, surface level car park, power plant and substations, in addition to numerous service tunnels. It was officially opened in December 2008.