GCAA And Airbus ProSky Plan For Busy Times Ahead
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You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the airspace over Dubai and Abu Dhabi is a crowded corridor. With three passenger terminals in operation and a fourth planned to open in 2017, Abu Dhabi has one of the busiest and fastest-growing airports (AUH) in the world. As if that weren’t enough, less than 150 kilometers away sits Dubai International (DXB), which has just overtaken London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) as the busiest on earth; and not far off is Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha, which is currently expanding to compete with its aforementioned neighbors.
The United Arab Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is responsible for the coordination of all “en-route” traffic for the whole of the UAE (think upper-airspace, or aircraft at cruising altitude) as well as all arrivals, departures and tarmac movements at AUH specifically. That’s a serious job, so it’s no wonder that the GCAA has and will continue to invest heavily in research and programs that will increase efficiency in airspace “hand-offs,'” decrease bottlenecking, improve fuel burn and shorten flight times in its airspace.
With strong growth projected to continue (from roughly 2,200 movements each day last year to as many as 5,100 flight movements daily in 2030), GCAA has just extended a partnership with Airbus ProSky, which will help it to better understand and plan for future air traffic management, communication, navigation and surveillance challenges.
While active in most of the world, Cabooter says that Airbus ProSky’s capabilities are in demand in regions where air travel is developing quickly.
According to Ahmed Al Jallaf, assistant director General Air Navigation Services at GCAA, this extended cooperation is the “logical step following the successful outcome of the UAE airspace study conducted [with ProSky] in 2012 and 2013. This project will be a continuity of what was started two years ago and will pave the way for further efficiency gains.”
We talked to Peter Cabooter, vice-president of Customer Affairs for Airbus ProSky, who is based in Singapore. He says that the 2012-2013 airspace study his company and GCAA collaborated on in the region gave both parties a strong idea of the region’s unique current and future demands.
“The two main results of the study are actually what we are going to work on now,” he explains. “One is the design of the upper airspace (which could include aircraft en route or ‘just passing through’ between any two destination cities) and air traffic control management (referring to flights in and out of AUH).”
Airbus Prosky will deliver software, along with a comprehensive system built around extensive training and competency. “The system will look at expected demand compared to actual capacity to make sure that everyone involved in planning – from airlines to airports and organizations like GCAA – can know what to expect and quickly resolve issues where demand exceeds capacity,” Cabooter explains.
While active in most of the world, Cabooter says that Airbus ProSky’s capabilities are in demand in regions where air travel is developing quickly. The United States and Europe, for example, have mature industries and most routes and airspaces have already been fundamentally sorted in the optimal way (Airbus ProSky designed the United States’ flow management system for the Federal Aviation Administration). But in places like the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China and part of South America, for example, carefully considered and customized strategies are critical to managing sustained growth in a safe and efficient fashion.
“With efficiency in air traffic, there is not one solution that fits all,” he says.