The UAE’s three international airports stole the global aviation limelight by bucking a severe downturn in the industry with strong passenger traffic growth in 2008, according to data released on Monday by Airports Council International, a trade association of the world’s airports.

The council’s 2008 World Airport Traffic Report showed that Abu Dhabi International Airport was the world’s fastest-growing airport last year, handling 30.2 per cent more passengers than in 2007. Dubai International Airport improved its global ranking for total passenger traffic from to 20^th from 27^th, with annual growth of nine per cent.

Dubai has a huge expat population. While a lot of foreigners have been packing bags and heading home in recent times, the city still plays host to people from all over the world. I caught up with a couple of expats calling Dubai home and here’s what they say about life in the city.

Amar Singh, a 32 year old Indian consultant weaves his way through the dancing crowd and tells me… “I love Dubai! Look at this place… where else can you have this kind of a lifestyle in the Middle East?” We are in Barasti, a favourite watering hole for Dubai’s expatriate crowd. This could have been any bar in South East Asia… the usual 80% - 20% ratio of white men to Asian girls, loud music and free flowing drinks. “That’s the problem with this place” says Hitaru, a Japanese friend who’s recently moved to the city as well and obviously not having as great a time as Amar. “This could be anywhere in the world, everything seems so artificial. This is supposed to be a desert but it could just as well be New York.”

Dubai launched the second tranche of a $20 billion sovereign bond programme, turning to foreign as well as local banks and setting up a fund to support local companies hit by the fallout of the financial crisis.

The tourism and finance hub, part of the United Arab Emirates, also said it has more tools to raise funds to support state-linked firms. The first $10 billion tranche was sold to the United Arab Emirates central bank.

"It's open to banks, financial institutions inside and outside the country," Abdulrahman Al Saleh, the new director general of Dubai's department of finance, told Reuters.

Sweets lovers outside the Middle East will soon be able to enjoy a Dubai company’s speciality: camel’s milk chocolate.

Martin Van Almsick, general manager of Al Nassma, the world’s first camel-milk chocolate, said the company planned to enter Saudi Arabia first, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United States within the next few months.

Al Nassma is also in talks with the British department store Harrods and San Francisco’s Chocolate Covered.

Dubai’s foremost iconic project, the world’s tallest building expected to position Dubai again as a world leisure and tourist destination is the Burj Dubai. It is the tallest tower in the world planned to be completed this December.

Previous reports had linked the mega structure with a soft opening in September to coincide with the start of operations on Dubai Metro. The UAE’s daily The National said a spokesman from the developers confirmed, however, that the giant tower would not open until December 2009 as with other projects that have been delayed in the city due to the recession.

State-run Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd (GASCO) has awarded contracts worth 9.2 billion dollars to international firms to set up integrated gas systems projects, the company said Wednesday.

The contracts are for "engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPC) works for integrated gas systems projects" at the Ruwais and Habshan gas plants, a statement on the official WAM news agency said.

Eighteen companies competed for the contracts.

Indian carrier Jet Airways will launch daily services to Hyderabad from Dubai next month, it was announced on Wednesday.

The new route, which launches on August 16, will be Jet Airways’ fifth service to Dubai, with two daily flights currently operating from Mumbai. It also provides daily flights from Delhi and Chennai.

Services on a Boeing 737-800 from Hyderabad will leave at 9.30am, arriving in Dubai at 11.50am. The return journey leaves the emirate at 12.50pm and touches down at 6pm. 

The developer of a luxury five-star hotel in Dubai has scrapped plans for a refrigerated beach due to concerns over the environmental impact, its managing director said in remarks published on Sunday.

Emirates Sunland Group’s Soheil Abedian said the idea of a chilled beach “sounded good at the time”, but consultants concluded the cooling system’s high energy consumption would be environmentally unsustainable, UAE daily the National reported on Sunday.

The beach would have been chilled through a system of pipes under the sand.

Dubai has created a committee to examine the feasibility of making a formal bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games - and the bid is all part of a greater initiative called ‘Dubai 2020,' which is a master plan for pushing the emirate onto the world stage...

The plans hinge on an enormous sports complex, Dubai Sports City, which will cover 50 million square metres and will be the most talked about new development in the emirate.

Scheduled for completion in 2011, the £2.4 billion project is aiming to make Dubai a contender to host the 2020 Olympics, as well as the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals.

Airline passengers taking the airport taxi from Dubai International Airport to Sharjah have expressed dismay over the costly inter-emirate trip as Dh20 is added to the running bill when the taxi crosses the Dubai-Sharjah border.

Omer Siddiqui, an irate passenger, said by taking a taxi from Dubai International Airport to Sharjah, the fare starts at Dh20 and once it crosses the Dubai border into Sharjah, a Dh20 extra is added to the running bill.

Premnath K. Naik, a 33-year-old customer service agent at the Enoch Petrol Station, said that the imposition of Dh20 flag down for inter-emirate trip has become a burden to expatriate workers, especially those arriving through the Dubai International Airport.