Whenever I fly to Dubai I tend to take FlyDubai and land at the main Dubai International Airport (DXB) like most people. But on my last trip I decided to fly out to the less popular Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) instead. The timings worked better for me compared to the DXB route and since I was staying in Dubai Marina, the distance from DWC to Dubai Marina was practically the same as DXB to Marina so that worked out in my favor.
The Al Maktoum International Airport isn’t anything close in size and amenities when compared to DXB Terminal 3 where Emirates flies in and out from, but compared to Terminal 2 which FlyDubai uses, Al Maktoum is pretty much the same. The biggest difference between the two is the amount of traffic inside and outside the airport since Al Maktoum doesn’t have anywhere near as much crowds as Terminal 2 does, or at least when I was there. On arrival we were the only plane that had landed and on departure I think there was one or two other planes leaving besides mine. The airport was pretty much empty the whole time and even once I walked out of the airport it was the same story there, no need to wait in line for a taxi and the highway to Dubai Marina was barren with barely any other cars on the road. On departure there was plenty of seating surrounding a pretty large sized duty free area and you also had your usual suspects like Starbucks, Costa and McDonalds in the food court.
Depending on where you’re staying in Dubai though it might or might not make sense to fly out to Al Maktoum International Airport. In my case staying in Dubai Marina allowed me to choose between the DXB or DWC airports since both were similar distance apart. But if you’re staying in downtown, the distance from DWC to downtown by car would be considerably longer than DXB to downtown (40 mins vs 15 mins). Personally, I’ll be using Al Maktoum again the next time I’m staying in Dubai Marina, it was just a chill experience without all the hustle and bustle of the overcrowded terminal 2.
