UAE aviation industry recorded robust growth in Q1 2015

The aviation industry in the UAE has been recording an impressive growth over the years. The first half of 2015 was no different, said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and Chairman of Dubai Airports.
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Sheikh Ahmed, who is also the chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and group and chairman of Dubai World Central Corporation, said the Dubai International becoming world’s number one airport for international passengers and the UAE being recognised by ICAO for having the world’s safest aviation industry, both are the outcome of our consistent and committed efforts to translate the vision of our beloved country’s leadership which has given aviation development a key priority. 

In his message in the just-released July edition of Via Dubai the official bilingual newsletter of DCAA, he said the aviation’s importance will grow significantly in the run up to Expo 2020 and the UAE continues with its massive expansion plans to cater to the growth in the industry. 

“The UAE has an outstanding aviation infrastructure and globally recognized for seamless travel facilitation. We are developing Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai World Central (DWC) into the world’s biggest airport with an annual capacity of over 220 million passengers.  Alongside, we continue to develop the Dubai International Airport which will handle 100 million passengers when the expansion plans get over. Emirates and flydubai have remained in expansion mode,” he said.

“It has been rightly said that Dubai is exemplary of the heights that can be reached when governments believe in the role of aviation as a strategic economic growth partner and a powerful driver of social and economic progress,” added Sheikh Ahmed. 

In his message, Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, director general of DCAA, said safety and quality are paramount for UAE’s aviation industry. 

“The demand for air transport services has been consistently rising in the UAE. Its airports handled over 101 million passengers last year of which over 71 million was handled alone by Dubai International. In our drive to expand and develop the facilities and services, we have not kept aside our eyes from adhering to quality and standards,” he said. 

“Quality is the strong factor for ensuring a safe, orderly and sustainable air transport infrastructure. The UAE has been continuing with its commitment in air transport infrastructure development to adequately meet the needs of the industry, now and in the future” he added. 

Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation (DACC), said the Al Maktoum International Airport expansion will be completed by the first quarter of 2022. “The phase is scheduled for completion in Q1 of 2022, by which time we expect AMIA’s annual passenger capacity to increase from the current five million passengers to 130 million. 

“Our current aim for Al Maktoum International Airport is twofold: to attract more airlines to operate from the airport and ease passenger traffic at DXB until such time that Phase 1 of the new airport is ready. In that context, AMIA is currently undergoing an expansionary phase that will see its annual passenger handling capacity rise from the current five million to seven million by early 2016,” he said. 

Michael Rudolph, head of Aviation Regulations and Safety with the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), in an exclusive interview to Via Dubai, said Dubai, a supporter of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), or drones, “will become the world’s first to introduce a registration card for commercial RPAS operators including both user as well as RPAS details. We are also introducing world’s first smartphone app which will allow for identification of a location of an RPAS by anyone who has the app.” 

The bilingual newsletter in English and Arabic also has an exclusive interview with Michael A Underwood, Director of Business Development for SmartPath Precision Landing Systems at Honeywell, on the cutting edge technologies reshaping the Air Traffic Management (ATM) environment. 

In the Opinion Section, Raymond Benjamin, secretary general, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), said the Middle East region has made tremendous progress in many areas. In recent years, it has been the only ICAO world region experiencing double-digit passenger and freight traffic growth rates. 

Dr.Elijah Chingosho, Secretary General, African Airlines Association (AFRAA), said with the African economies, middle class and population fast growing, the continent stands to significantly gain from safe, reliable and economical air transport services.   

Describing the UAE aviation sector as expanding, modernizing and one that promotes the competition, Omar bin Ghaleb, deputy director general,  General Civil Aviation Authority, UAE, said the aircraft movements in the UAE airspace will increase to 1.62 million in 2030 with aircraft movements numbering 4,400 per day compared with the present 2200 aircraft movements. “The UAE has made significant strides of growth in the aviation domain in the past few years. Today, we can say with pride that the UAE offers one of the most advanced aviation infrastructure facilities,” he said. 

Paschal Donohoe, minister for Transport & Tourism, Ireland, in his opinion column, said the EU’s internal ‘Open Skies’ policy has been a huge success since 1992 and Ireland continues to strongly support the extension of these policies to key third country markets and at a global level.