Dubai International Airport's Terminal 1 reopened on Thursday as the city prepares for a 'summer surge'.
The lights were switched back on after 15 months, in a sign that the aviation and travel sector is ready to bounce back.
Airport officials expect a "flood" of travellers in the coming weeks as hundreds of thousands of people jet off when schools close - and inbound tourists head to the emirate for holidays.
"Terminal 1 is back!" the airport posted on Twitter.
"After 15 months of hibernation, Dubai’s aviation community came together to turn on the lights and reactivate DXB’s T1 & Concourse D."
Terminal 1 and its extension Concourse D can together handle 18 million passengers a year.
Earlier this week, officials set at target of 8 per cent growth to 28 million passengers in 2021.
That target is far below DXB's pre-pandemic peak of 86 million, but would still make it among the busiest for international traffic in the world.
Terminal 1 will enable the gradual return of more than 40 international carriers that are currently based at terminals 2 and 3, which reopened last year.
Terminal 2 was largely dedicated to short-haul flights to Asia, while Terminal 3 was dedicated to Emirates and Qantas prior to the pandemic.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman of Dubai Airports, said earlier this week that the move "signals our confidence that the outlook for the rest of the year and beyond is one of optimism, as well as being a clear indication of Dubai’s intent to lead the aviation industry to enable social and economic recovery of the world".
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
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It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
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The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
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1st row
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
2nd row
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-GP)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
3rd row
Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)
4th row
Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
Sergio Perez (Force India)
5th row
Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Haas)
6th row
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
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7th row
Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
8th row
Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
9th row
Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Lance Stroll (Williams)
10th row
Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
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