Outside the New Zealander's office, Dubai International Airport is a hive of activity with constant aircraft movements from the 100 airlines which use the hub, and builders work on yet more construction.
Inside Mr Chapman's office are pictures from just 30 years ago of the original airport, little more than a runway and shed sitting in the desert.
Dubai is constantly remodelling itself, creating a surreal experience for visitors, but today the lad who grew up in Papatoetoe in the 1950s and '60s takes it all in his stride.
A city constantly under construction, the growth and loss of fortunes when the property bubble burst, the attitude of city leaders that what is good for Dubai is good for the people and the high expectations of behaviour, all seem to fit comfortably with Mr Chapman.
He joined the Emirates Group in 1989 as finance controller but has since worked his way to the senior executive position of President Group Services and Dnata, with responsibility for businesses which last year contributed $3 billion of the group's $14 billion turnover.
Within his responsibility is corporate support services such as finance, IT, human resources, medical services, legal and fuel price management and, through subsidiary company Dnata, the Whitbread Group Hotel chain and airport ground handling and travel services for 40 airlines.
Emirates was founded by the Dubai Government in the mid-1980s on a capital base of just $85 million which included a $14 million deposit on aircraft.
In the early 1980s, Persian Gulf airline operators were cutting back services to the city, threatening its development from a fishing and trading town.
The Dubai Government was forced to act, and in 1985 it established Emirates Airlines, which has grown into one of the 10 largest airlines in the world, operating 140 wide-bodied aircraft on routes as diverse as Dubai to North America and the transtasman run.
Mr Chapman was to find a role running the group's backroom operations which has enjoyed similar growth and development to the airline.
It had valuable accounting and IT systems which have been sold internationally, along with ground-handling systems and services, including servicing Air New Zealand aircraft at London's Heathrow Airport.
Dnata took its airline servicing model international in 2004, buying Singapore's ground-handling business.
"It is a model that works," he said.
Dubai was not a democracy but run like a corporation.
Mr Chapman said developments did not require lengthy and costly planning processes, but were assessed on whether the rights and benefits to the community of the project outweighed those of the individual.
"They get on with it here. There is a clarity of position going forward."
Property development in Dubai has undergone a massive correction and, while some unfinished buildings lie abandoned, there were still plenty of others under construction.
Mr Chapman said Dubai was a city where if you did not think big, you were left behind.
That punch-above-its-weight attitude saw Emirates place an order for new aircraft days after the 9-11 terrorist attack, something he said would have seen it crucified by shareholders had it been a public company.
An equally bold move was to buy eight of the new Airbus A380s, with Emirates the first airline to place an order.
Prior to working for Emirates Group, Mr Chapman worked for a wealthy Arab family for 12 years, overseeing their business, and he said the New Zealand traits of being humble and loyal had helped his career in the Middle East.
Dubai was an enjoyable and safe place to live and one where he thinks its rulers have the right balance between people's rights and obligations of behaviour.
• Neal Wallace travelled to the Middle East with Fonterra.
Gary Chapman
- President Group Services and Dnata, Emirates Group, Dubai.
- Attended Aorere College, Auckland.
- Studied accounting part time at Auckland Technical Institute.
- Worked New Zealand Newspapers and as auditor at Gilfillan Gentles, Pickles, Perkins and Co.
- Spent 12 years working for Arab trading company involved in the construction and oil businesses based in Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Paris and Houston.
- Joined Emirates Group 1989.
- Married with one son.
