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Dubai world's 6th busiest airport
posted on 30/04/2008
 Dubai International Airport overtook Singapore's Changi in the first quarter to become the sixth busiest airport worldwide, latest industry figures show. The growing passenger numbers in Dubai, which reached 9.34 million in the first three months of the year, underlined calls by industry leaders for a new regional traffic control system to bring order to dangerously congested skies over the Gulf.
The latest figures from Airports Council International, a global industry association, mark a passing of the torch to the Gulf by Asian airlines that became a global force in the 1970s but are now losing business to this region. GCC countries should establish a centralised air traffic control system because the region's air corridors are becoming dangerously congested, the chief executive of Dubai Airports said.
Airlines such as Emirates and Etihad are growing faster than air traffic control systems can handle, said Paul Griffiths, who heads the Dubai Government-owned firm that manages the emirate's airports.
Speaking at an aviation conference at Grosvenor House hotel in Dubai, Griffiths called on the UAE to forge an accord with its neighbours to create a unified air traffic control system. "This is a very urgent and pressing issue. We need to devote significant emphasis on designing the airspace in Dubai and the GCC,” said Griffiths.
The executive continued that Gulf countries need to gain more expertise in managing air space, and could learn from Europe, where there was greater co-operation between military and civil aviation agencies.
A regional agreement would help unravel some of the restrictive air policies in the Middle East. Currently, airlines are forced to fly certain air corridors, in what has been described as the airline equivalent of the Strait of Hormuz.
The restrictions also saddle airlines with extra costs: there are security-related no-fly zones in Iran, Afghanistan, Kuwait and parts of Saudi Arabia and that forces flights from Dubai to the UK or Australia to make detours taking them hundreds of kilometres off course.
One of the main reasons Dubai Airports is pressing for regional airspace co-operation is that it expects to receive an influx of new flights to Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, which is under construction and expected to open its runways to cargo flights and budget airlines next year.
Griffiths said that Dubai Airports had commissioned a study by NATS, the UK-based air-traffic controller, on how to design the airspace in and around the six-runway Al Maktoum airport, which is to handle as many as 150 million passengers and up to 12 million tonnes of cargo a year.
He noted that Abu Dhabi International Airport is also expected to begin construction of its new Midfield Terminal, which will have capacity for some 40 million passengers a year. To operate these two airports properly, Griffiths said the industry was in desperate need of new air traffic controllers. Dubai Airports is also expected to expand its partnerships with academic institutions to train more airport workers. – The National
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