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www.viadubaionline.comMonthly Newsletter issued by Dubai Civil Aviation Authority Issue 44 January 2017

30Airlines 32Cargo & Logistics 36Technology28Opinions

Inside DCAA

5

8

6

DCAA signs MoU with District International

Canadian Consul General visits DCAA office

DAFZA signs multilateral MoUs with DCAA and other entities

7

12

16

14

DCAA signs cooperation agreement with Al Falah University

World’s largest VIP Terminal at Dubai South

Emirates, Etihad Airways among the Top 10 safest in the world

dnata handles record passengers, baggage in 2016

2829 10Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu

Alexandre de Juniac Mohammed Ahli

Gift of climate consensus

Four points to ponder

Poised for strong growth in 2017

22

Tech investments for increased security

Boeing forecasts 200,000 new aviation jobs

UAE in Focus

20

The next generation in the wings

36

DCAA to co-host Aviation and Law – Dubai 2017

January 20172

Our Smart ServicesDCAA Smart App will allow the customers the below services:

• IssuanceofLandingpermissions• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforCarriageofRestrictedArticles• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforAerialWork• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforAircraftWarningLight• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforHeliport• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforPyrotechnicDisplay• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforBuildingHeight(Below300m)• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforBuildingHeight(Above300m)• IssuanceofApprovalforHeliportsCertification• IssuanceofApprovalforCraneOperation• IssuanceofApprovalforGSMorothercommunicationtower• IssuanceofApprovalforBalloonOperations• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforSkyTrackers/SpaceCannon

• CompanyName• CompanyAddress• TelephoneNumber• FaxNumber• POBox• City• Chooseonesecretquestions

Registration Requirements:• Username• Password• EmailAddress• Name• MobileNumber• EmiratesIDNumber• Category(Individual-Airline-Agency-Expert-Provider)

[email protected]

YoucandownloadtheapplicationbysearchinginAppStoreandPlayStorebytypingDCAAorscantheQRcode

Formoreinformation,pleasecalltechnicalsupporton:email:

www.dcaa.gov.ae+971566810685

1 January 2017

In 2007, the functions of the Department of Civil Aviation were restructured. Accordingly, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) was established as a regulatory body, by a decree of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, on proclamation of law No. 21 of 2007, as amended by law No. 19 of 2010, to undertake development of Air Transport Industry in the Emirate of Dubai and to oversee all aviation-related activities.

Via Dubai is the official bilingual monthly newsletter of DCAA, designed to highlight the initiatives and developments in the aviation industry and act as a knowledge-sharing platform for all the stakeholders and aviation professionals.

General SupervisionMohammed Abdulla Ahli

CoordinatorHanan Al Mazimi

Creative ManagerMohammed Al Jarouf

EditorShveta Pathak

E-mail: [email protected]

Legal Disclaimer The views expressed in the articles are of the writers and not necessarily belong to DCAA. We take all reasonable steps to keep the information current and accurate, but errors can occur. The information is therefore provided as is, with no guarantee of accuracy, completeness or timeliness. The DCAA or Via Dubai does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the quality, accuracy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information. Via Dubai does not endorse or recommend any article, product, service or information mentioned in the newsletter. Any perceived slight of any person or organisation is completely unintentional.

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Our VisionDubai Civil Aviation Authority is driven by the vision of Dubai to become the global Aviation Capital contributing to prosperity and enabling growth for Dubai.

Our MissionDubai Civil Aviation Authority is committed to support the aviation sector in:u Capturing the full value potential as a global passenger, tourism, trade, cargo and logistic hub u Providing the capacity, connectivity and leveraging existing assets to meet the aviation sector and economic growth plans of Dubaiu Ensuring sustainable and responsible growth committed to safety, health, environment and securityu Providing and creating customer-focused services to gain competitive advantage from innovation, knowledge and efficiencyu Building and retaining capabilities, for the aviation sector, while offering career opportunities for Nationalsu Ensuring a transparent, effective and commercially balanced regulatory framework that reflects the interests of the aviation industry, Dubai and the UAEu Providing efficient and cost-effective services to the aviation sector

E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.dcaa.gov.ae

Tel: (971) 4 216 2009

Fax: (971) 4 224 4502

P.O.BOX 49888

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CONTENTS

Inside DCAA05

07

06 08



DAFZA signs multilateral MoUs with DCAA and otherentities

Canadian Consul Generalvisits DCAA office

Our Smart ServicesDCAA Smart App will allow the customers the below services:

• IssuanceofLandingpermissions• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforCarriageofRestrictedArticles• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforAerialWork• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforAircraftWarningLight• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforHeliport• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforPyrotechnicDisplay• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforBuildingHeight(Below300m)• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforBuildingHeight(Above300m)• IssuanceofApprovalforHeliportsCertification• IssuanceofApprovalforCraneOperation• IssuanceofApprovalforGSMorothercommunicationtower• IssuanceofApprovalforBalloonOperations• IssuanceofNoObjectionCertificateforSkyTrackers/SpaceCannon

• CompanyName• CompanyAddress• TelephoneNumber• FaxNumber• POBox• City• Chooseonesecretquestions

Registration Requirements:• Username• Password• EmailAddress• Name• MobileNumber• EmiratesIDNumber• Category(Individual-Airline-Agency-Expert-Provider)

[email protected]

YoucandownloadtheapplicationbysearchinginAppStoreandPlayStorebytypingDCAAorscantheQRcode

Formoreinformation,pleasecalltechnicalsupporton:email:

www.dcaa.gov.ae+971566810685

January 20172

CONTENTS

12


Alexandre de Juniac29


Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu28


2032


2016: The second safest year in aviation history

Delta ends partnership with Alaska Airlines

Positive momentum in the making

25

30

3 January 2017

Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum

Eventful New Year

Let’s hope 2017 will be an eventful year for the UAE aviation industry. The outlook is promis-

ing as we have lined up a series of events that will further boost the aviation sector in Dubai to reach among the top in the world, as envisioned by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Mak-toum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Exciting times are in the offing in the New Year, the most important being the Dubai Airshow in Novem-ber, 2017. Dubai is continuing to grow and outpace traditional markets as it becomes an increasingly im-portant global aerospace hub. The record-breaking Airshow is one of the largest and most successful air shows in the world, connecting aerospace profes-sionals across all areas of the industry to facilitate successful global trade. Exhibitors and visitors attend the Dubai Airshow to take advantage of this growth and build their brand.

Before that, in May 2017, we will have the Dubai Airport Show, the world’s leading B2B event for airport procurement, supplies, solutions and technol-ogy which has solid support from both the govern-ment and private sectors.

The first phase of Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) is expected to be com-pleted during 2017, which will increase the passen-ger handling capacity to 27 millionin first quarter 2018. Al Maktoum International is being designed to become an airport of the future. We are building a range of amenities and facilities that will increase capacity and significantly enrich the airport experi-ence, making it an attractive proposition for airlines as well as passengers.

Wish you all a successful and pleasant New Year.

Messagefrom the President

January 20174

We welcome 2017 with much hope and happi-ness as we are poised to witness more exciting

growth in the aviation sector in the New Year. As His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Mak-toum, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority President, and CEO of Emirates Group and Airlines said: “We are poised to significantly boost Dubai’s economy by creating a world-class facility capable of handling the growing number of passengers visiting and transiting our city.”

We look forward to an eventful year. The Dubai Airshow, the Dubai Airport Show and many other exciting happenings that will catapult Dubai into the realm of one of the top aviation hubs in the world, as envisioned by our leader.

Providing the public with the safest and most secure air travel is our goal. Towards this noble purpose we are making all arrangements to provide all facilities to the airport users coming from all countries.

Following on the heels of the General Civil Avia-tion Authority’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, we will improve services by involving all stakeholders, and enhancing international links and holding construc-

tive discussions, as well as develop the existing infrastructure.

We also pledge to provide all support to business aviation in the country. The UAE is the second-larg-est buyer of mid- to-large private jets out of a total of 293 aircraft that were delivered to the Middle East between 2006 and 2015. The largest number of deliveries were to Turkey (77), followed by the UAE (63) and Saudi Arabia (58), while the UAE tops in taking delivery of the most number of large jets.

We will also take our innovation initiatives to the next level, as we have seen tremendous success in our new measures initiated in 2016.

Wish you a Happy and Blessed New Year.

Mohammed Abdulla Ahli

Exciting 2017

Messagefrom the Director General

5 January 2017

Inside DCAA

The Dubai Civil Aviation Au-thority (DCAA) has signed

a memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) with District Inter-national, Event and Conference Management, for hosting the first Aviation & Law Conference in Dubai.

The agreement was signed by Di-rector General of DCAA HE Mo-hammed Abdulla Ahli. The MoU is to support such conferences specialized in aviation which also enhances the role of the UAE and Dubai in pioneering aviation.

The conference will bring together developers and specialists in the fields of aviation, security and law. The conference will have partici-

pation by government delegations from more than 20 countries with huge local and international media presence.


Driven by the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, of making Dubai the global Aviation Capital, the DCAA is ac-tively generating awareness through its support and participation in prominent national and international events focussed on aviation.

In 2017, under the Patronage of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Mak-toum, President Dubai Civil Avia-tion Authority, the Authority will co-host, Aviation and Law – Dubai 2017 conference, the first worldwide conference on the subject of Avia-tion, Security, and Law, along with UK-based World Organization of Arbitration and Mediation.

His Excellency Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, Director General, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Through

our support to The Aviation and Law-Dubai 2017 conference, we aim to bring leaders and experts from all over the world under one roof to dis-cuss relevant in the aviation sector, raise awareness and come out with the best solutions and practices that will lead Dubai to become the global aviation capital as well as contribute to boosting aviation sector in the re-gion. We are strongly committed to pursuing our mission to contribute to the development of aviation sector.”

The Aviation and Law – Dubai 2017 conference, to be held in March, will be a worldwide conference on the subject and will bring ministers, lead-ers, developers and law makers of the aviation industry under one roof to discuss international concerns relat-ed to aviation, future development of aviation, security of airlines and air-ports, and law dispute resolution in the Aviation private sector.

CEO of District International, Sar-mad Al Tikriti, the organisers of the conference, appreciated the DCAA and the local governmental entities for their support to the conference in its first edition.

He said the strong support of the DCAA designated committee by H.E. Mohammed Ahli, Director General of DCAA, to this prominent international conference ensures the success of the event.

DCAA to co-host Aviation and Law – Dubai 2017

January 20176

Inside DCAA

Dubai Airport Free Zone Authori-ty (DAFZA) has signed multilater-al Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and five other government entities in line with the launch of the ‘Development of Gov-ernmental Services’ Innovation Eco-system’ initiative.

The other entities include the Dubai Police, the Dubai Health Authority, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Dubai Economic Department, Dubai Customs and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai. The move is also in strategic collaboration with Dubai Smart Office.

The initiative aims to create innova-tive solutions and enhance customer experiences in support of national ef-forts towards making Dubai the most business-friendly city and a preferred

investment destination in the world in line with Dubai Plan 2021.

The official inauguration ceremony of the ‘Development of Governmen-tal Services’ Innovation Ecosystem’ saw the launching of DAFZA’s ‘The Big Conversation,’ a first-of-its-kind event aimed at overcoming obstacles and fostering process, service and product innovation across the gov-ernment and freezone ecosystems to further enhance the experiences of foreign investors operating within the free zones in cooperation with gov-ernment entities.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of DAFZA, pointed out that the signif-icance of the ‘Big Conversation’ lies in its role in laying strong foundations for making innovation the main driver behind Dubai and the UAE’s global economic leadership. He explained

that the unique initiative is inspired by the wise vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who said that “Innovation is the secret behind the survival and en-hancement of Governments and the main reason for the progress of their peoples and nations.”

HE Mohammed Abdullah Ahli, Di-rector General of Dubai Civil Avi-ation Authority, said: “Dubai Civil Aviation Authority seeks to fully cooperate with all strategic partners to achieve our common strategic ob-jectives. Through the ‘The Big Con-versation’ agreement, we seek full co-operation with the signing parties to boost foreign investment and sustain inflows and consequently make a pos-itive impact on the GDP. This is what we are all looking for as entities that influence local economic growth.”

DAFZA signs multilateral MoUs with DCAA and other entities

MoUs in line with launch of the ‘Development of Governmental Services’ Innovation Ecosystem’ initiative at DAFZA’s ‘The Big Conversation’

7 January 2017

Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) has signed a cooper-

ation agreement with Al Falah Uni-versity (AFU) to support all areas of education and the exchange of experiences, information, confer-ences, scientific research and train-ing workshops.

The agreement was signed at the DCAA headquarters in the pres-ence of HE Mohammed Abdullah Ahli, Director General of DCAA, and directors of departments and divisions.

Abdul Rahim Al Mulla, Executive Director of Support and Corporate Communications, and Dr Sameer Al Barghouti, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Al Falah University, signed the agreement. Deans and faculties from AFU also attended.

The agreement focused on the fruit-ful scientific partnership for the transfer of expertise and exchange of knowledge between the two sides in addition to the seminars and scientific research that will help develop the level of education in the UAE.

Under the agreement, Al Falah Uni-versity will offer 10 per cent discount on tuition fees for all employees of the DCAA, including relatives to first degree, to encourage the demand for education especially in the fields and disciplines that the labour market needs in the UAE.

Inside DCAA


January 20178

Inside DCAA

HE Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, Director General of DCAA,

received HE Emmanuel Kamari-anakis, Consul General of Canada in Dubai, in his office as part of the DCAA’s policy of enhancing rela-tionship and continuous cooperation locally, regionally and globally. He indicated that the visit considered a

good opportunity to exchange opin-ions which contribute in strengthen-ing the cooperation.

The Canadian Consul General ex-pressed his gratitude and appreci-ation to HE Mohammed Abdulla Ahli on the cooperation, hospitality and giving the opportunity to dis-

cuss different aspects of cooper-ation between the two sides. This meeting comes within a series of continuous meetings which DCAA aims to have with different sectors for cooperation. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Director General presented a memento to the Canadi-an Consul General.

Canadian Consul General visits DCAA office

DCAA delegation in Bahamas for air transport meetA delegation from the Dubai Civ-

il Aviation Authority (DCAA) has participated in the Air Transport Conference (ICANN) held in the Ba-hamas. The delegation was headed by Saud Kinkzar, Executive Director of the air transport sector and interna-tional affairs.

During the visit, the DCAA delega-tion held bilateral talks with many of the participating states in order to de-velop the air transport sector.

9 January 2017

Inside DCAA

There were five workshops. The first one was for executive direc-tors and directors of departments, and the other four were for heads of departments, executives and other staff of the Authority, with training of one day for each group.

The sessions were aimed at helping the participants to formulate smart goals, leading to control and eval-uation of their individual perfor-mance for the benefit of realising the goals of their departments and divisions which will ultimately re-sult in achieving the vision of the Authority

The course focused on the follow-ing topics:

• The importance and the role of management’s assessment of smart objectives in the development of employee performance;

• The importance and the role of management’s assessment of smart objectives in the development of in-stitutional efficiency;

• The importance and the role of management’s assessment of smart goals in discovering aspects of de-velopment needed in the labour reg-ulations;

• Linking the results of performance plans for training and development, regulatory and institutional evalua-tion; and

• Skills to deal with superiors in per-formance development.

At the conclusion of the first work-shop for executives and directors of departments HE Mohammed Abdullah Ahli, Director General of DCAA, distributed certificates to the participants in the presence of Dr. Hessa Abdullah Mohammed bin Suleiman, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Golden Eagle Manage-ment and Training Consulting.

DCAA organises workshops on performance assessment

DCAA organized an awareness session titled ‘How to set smart goals to assess individual performance’, which was attended by 90 employees.

January 201710

Cover Story

In an exclusive interview with Via Du-bai, His Excellency Mohammed Ab-dulla Ahli, Director General, DCAA, explained how 2016 was a year of ma-jor achievements and shared the 2017 outlook.

Excerpts:

How was the year 2016 for DCAA in terms of achievements?The year 2016 has been an important year for the civil aviation industry and Dubai economy as well.

We could witness an overall growth here in Dubai in spite of slow growth elsewhere.In a way, Dubai could beat the global trend because of the wholehearted support and progres-sive approach of our visionary leader His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the direction and the continuous support of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Civ-il Aviation Authority, Chairman & Chief Executive - Emirates Airlines & Group, Chairman Dubai Airports.

The aviation sector in particular wit-nessed an unprecedented growth. Du-bai International remained the busiest in terms of number of international passengers.

Then, our two international airports are gearing up to serve up to 146 mil-lion passengers by 2025 and there will be corresponding huge expansion in related fields in the aviation sector.

The Dubai International airport, which overtook leading airports in the world, saw passenger traffic climbing to 83 million in 2016 and expects 89 million people using the facility this year.

It was a year of innovation and ex-cellence at the DCAA where we saw a host of major initiatives taken for making innovation a part of work cul-ture within the DCAA and also among our stakeholders.

Our ‘Be Innovative’ initiative has been well-received by one and all.

The enthusiasm is encouraging us to take up more such initiatives in our

march for a ‘perfectly innovative’ en-vironment in the aviation sector. All our employees have whole-heartedly subscribed to the novel thinking.

The ‘Be Innovative’ culture has truly influenced our staff as evidenced by the ‘innovative’ quality in their ser-vices.

We took innovation initiatives to the next level in line with the UAE’s Na-tional Innovation Strategy.

The department did everything to inculcate the culture of innovation among one and all, from top echelons to the lowest staff, and even to outsid-ers and stakeholders, to earn the epi-thet of ‘The Most Innovative People in the world’.

What were the other achievements in adopting technology?We have been continuously upgrad-ing our systems, making the best use of the latest technologies, making procedures more effective and more accurate. We will add more activities to improve our operations. We have adopted ‘e-payment’ for collection of

The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), which is responsible in defining the general policy for civil aviation and also managing the aviation activities

in the Emirate of Dubai, has been instrumental in fuelling the strong growth of the Dubai economy, contributing almost 30 per cent to the GDP and 19 per cent of employment opportunities. DCAA is poised for continuing the excellent track record of impressive growth in 2017 too.

Poised for strong growth in 2017

Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, Director General, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA)

11 January 2017

Cover Story

revenue. It enables all our customers including the airlines, to submit their applications and make the payments online and saves their time.

The Corporate Support Department, the procurements division, which is responsible for all procurements with-in the DCAA, has made 100 per cent of its procedures online including the payments. We have also converted tenders to e committee, wherein the entire process can be done online.

Supplier registration is another area where we have gone 100 per cent on-line.

How do you highlight DCAA’s tech-nology initiatives?In addition to directly informing our clients and stakeholders, we actively participate in key events at national and international levels.

During our participation in the Gitex Technology Week 2016, as part of the Dubai Government pavilion, we dis-played the latest smart and innovative services in order to enhance the expe-rience of our customers.

Among the prominent showcasing was ‘Drone Hunter’. The aircraft was intro-duced to identify rogue drones operat-ing too close to the city’s airports.

In cooperation with the General Di-rectorate of Police, we inaugurated the newly created electronic system to issue permits for transportation of dangerous goods from, to and through Dubai International and Al Maktoum International Airport.

The new system serves the clients of airlines, licensed cargo companies in dealing with dangerous goods and the system is electronically linked be-tween the departments of accidents investigation and aviation safety and

Dubai Police General Department of airport security.

By linking the system with the Dubai Police Head Quarters, we ensure the importance of the strategic partner-ship in providing excellent services to achieve the best world practices.

In April, we organised the 4th World Aviation Safety Summit which brought in the desired effect to high-light the challenges facing the global aviation industry and suggest remedial measures. We could bring together in-ternational decision makers in aviation safety, regulatory authorities, airport and airline operators and other stake-holders.

What are your initiatives to ensure safety and security to passengers and assets?The unprecedented growth in passen-ger numbers and airlines necessitates the need for ensuring safety and secu-rity for all stakeholders, passengers, airlines and the general public. The DCAA is fully prepared to face this challenge by adopting advanced tech-nology and deploying trained person-nel for the job.

We are well-equipped to assume this huge responsibility of ensuring safe-ty by virtue of our early planning, far-sighted strategies and above all the ability to deploy the required financial resources and human capital.

We made sure that the right and time-tested technology is deployed by world class companies and experts. At a time when the aviation industry continues to grow and become more complex, it is important that we rein-force an effective safety culture. For this, we are adopting global standards involving our human resources, finan-cial resources and the best technol-ogy. Going forward, we will deploy

state-of-the-art technology, trained personnel and proven world class pro-cesses to see that security is not com-promised.

How do you foresee 2017 perfor-mance and what are your expecta-tions and resolutions?First of all, we welcome 2017 with much hope and happiness as we are poised to continue the winning race in the aviation sector this year also.

Dubai international airport is fast ap-proaching the target of 100 million passengers in 2020. More than these enviable numbers, Dubai will be re-garded by the world as one of the most modern and safest airports. This growth presents before us the chal-lenge to ensure that we offer the best services while staying committed to safety of the skies. In order to reach this goal and go beyond, we are adopt-ing innovation as our slogan for the benefit of all our passengers, custom-ers and stakeholders at large.

Our guiding inspirations are the vi-sions of our leaders. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Du-bai, has set very high standard.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman & Chief Executive - Emirates Airlines & Group, Chairman Dubai Airports, said: “We are poised to significantly boost Dubai’s economy by creating a world-class facility capable of han-dling the growing number of passen-gers visiting and transiting our city.”

We look forward to many new initia-tives in 2017 amid the robust growth that Dubai’s aviation sector is witness-ing.

January 201712

UAE in Focus

January 201712

13 January 2017

UAE in Focus

The launch of the VIP Terminal at Dubai South’s Aviation District is yet another significant step towards realising Dubai’s vision of becoming the aviation capital of the world: His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Civil Aviation Authority,

Chairman & Chief Executive - Emirates Airlines & Group, Chairman Dubai Airports.

The inauguration of the VIP Ter-minal at Dubai South marked an important chapter in the aviation history of Dubai.

The world’s largest VIP termi-nal was officially opened at Al Maktoum International at Dubai South on 19 December, 2016 by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President Dubai Civil Aviation Author-ity, Chairman & Chief Execu-tive- Emirates Airlines & Group, Chairman Dubai Airports.

The 5,600-square metre stan-dalone facility is intended to exclusively cater to private, business and heads of state and government VIP travellers.

The largest purpose-built facility of its kind in the world, the termi-nal is set to create a niche in busi-ness aviation sector, offering VIP customers a seamless travel ex-perience, coupled with time and cost efficiencies within a thriving aviation ecosystem.

Speaking on the occasion, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed said: “The launch of the VIP Terminal at Dubai South’s Aviation Dis-trict is yet another significant step towards realising Dubai’s vision of becoming the aviation capital of the world.

With the opening of the world’s largest facility for private avia-tion, Dubai South has raised the bar on luxury travel, redefining the passenger experience.

A significant milestone for Dubai South and for aviation industry as a whole, the opening of the VIP Terminal will cement our posi-tion in the world of private avi-ation, bringing us a step closer to becoming the region’s premier aerospace hub.

The world-class facility is com-plemented by first-class services and experiences, all adding to an exemplary travel experience.”

It is the largest of its kind in the world, hosting two Fixed Base Operators (FBOs), JetEx and Fal-con Aviation, according to Khal-ifa Al Zaffin, Chairman of Dubai Aviation City.

The VIP Terminal is minutes away from Al Maktoum Inter-national, which is shaping up to become the largest airport in the making.

The terminal is housed in a be-spoke architectural structure re-flecting the pioneering spirit and innovation-led heritage of Du-bai’s aviation sector. Set inside an opulent and aesthetically rich interior, the terminal features

luxurious duty free retail space. The VIP Terminal currently hosts three operators including Falcon Aviation, Jetex and Jet Aviation.

As the world’s first mas-ter-planned airport city, Dubai South is concentrating on build-ing state-of-the-art infrastructure around the Al Maktoum Inter-national, thus creating a thriving aviation ecosystem.

The Aviation District provides a specialised business environment that meets all the needs of the avi-ation industry.

The first flight from the VIP ter-minal took place in April 2016, carrying 13 passengers on an Embraer Legacy aircraft that was headed to the Maldives. Since then, the terminal has witnessed 1,000 flight movements with the number anticipated to grow to 4,000 movements in 2017.

The terminal is part of Al Mak-toum International, the planned largest airport in the world, which will involve the construction of five runways and increase in ca-pacity to handle 160 million pas-sengers a year once complete.

The facility is located in the Avi-ation District, which will become the new permanent home of the Dubai Airshow.


January 201714

UAE in Focus

Carried 91.3 million passengers and 97.8 million bags in 2016; The most travelled sector from Dubai was Doha with over 2.99 million passengers; Busiest day December 23, 2016 witnessed handling of 281,388 passengers.

Dubai-based dnata, the Emirates Group’s aviation and travel services subsidiary, carried more than an un-precedented 91.3 million passengers and 97.8 million bags as its UAE op-erations continued to expand during 2016.

The data represents more than a 16 per cent increase in the number of passengers using the airports, and 4 per cent increase in the number of flights compared to 2015.

The most travelled sector from Du-bai was Doha with over 2.99 million passengers making the journey from the hub, and 3.2 million bags meeting travellers at the destination.

“It’s been a challenging year but our team has demonstrated unwavering commitment to delivering the high-est standards to our customers,” said Steve Allen, DSVP dnata Airport Operations.

“We have worked hard to stay agile, efficient and innovative, while never compromising our safety and opera-tional excellence. 2017 will require us to be even more tactile and re-sponsive to the needs of the market, and stay on top of our game to ensure a robust year ahead.”

On its busiest day of 2016, December 23, dnata was supported by 18,529 staff who handled 281,388 passen-gers and 329, 341 bags, and one air-craft movement every 73 seconds. dnata closed the year with 419,133 tonnes of cargo at DXB which is a

monthly average of 46,570 tonnes and an eight per cent increase from the previous year.

Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) also saw a spike in passenger numbers with Fly Dubai’s growing operations at the airport in 2016.

The airport has also developed into a regional cargo hub with a capaci-ty to grow to 16 million tonnes per year. dnata now handles more than 117.000 tonnes of cargo at DWC and this number is expected to grow.

dnata’s Special Handling team at DXB of 980 employees have assist-ed an average of 4, 000 special needs passengers every day. Over the year, dnata invested millions into new ground support equipment (GSE) to ensure flights landing at the two airports are serviced safely and effi-ciently.

Currently dnata deploys 10,000 piec-es of GSE and vehicles of which 2, 000 are motorised. dnata has intro-duced environment friendly elec-tric tow tractors, conveyor belts and pushback tractors, GSE with engines meeting Euro III emission standards and testing hybrid and CNG powered vehicles; we have a vision to convert motorised equipment wherever feasi-ble from diesel powered to electric, hybrid or CNG-powered.

dnata has worked closely with Dubai Airports and other stakeholders on the opening of Concourse D. The new concourse has increased the airport’s capacity to an additional 16 million passengers. dnata also operates a new marhaba lounge at Concourse D.

In addition to Dubai, dnata has ground handling operations in 74 other airports around the world, serv-ing more than 250 airlines, and is the world’s largest ground handler of the Airbus A380 aircraft.

dnata handles record passengers, baggage in 2016

15 January 2017

Emirates Aviation Services has formed a partnership with training specialist Airways Aviation to offer a direct pathway to a Private Pilot License (PPL) in the UAE through to a Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL) in Europe or Australia.

This new partnership allows aspiring pilots in Dubai and the GCC countries the chance to study for a PPL in their region and, upon completion and be-ing awarded a contract, move onto a MPL at one of Airways Aviation’s EASA or CASA training academies.

Emirates Aviation Services will de-liver the Airways Aviation core MPL training programme in Dubai, ena-bling the company to supply excep-tional airline pilots for an industry where pilots are in high demand, said a press statement.

The partnership with Emirates Avi-ation Services also provides Air-ways Aviation with the opportunity to develop new airline training pro-grammes and as well as developing new relationships with airlines in the region. “The UAE is an important region for Airways Aviation. Middle

Eastern airlines are highly desired by prospective pilots, so it makes complete sense for us to partner with Emirates Aviation Services, an estab-lished training provider in the UAE. We are now working together to pro-vide high-quality airline pilot train-ing for local students and a direct pathway onto the flight line,” said Ian Cooper, CEO, Airways Aviation. Abdullah Al Ansari, Director, Emir-

ates Aviation Services, said: “This partnership with Airways Aviation will enable us to achieve our vision of being a leading training provider of airline pilots.

Utilising the company’s exceptional quality of training programmes and senior teaching staff, we’re confident that we will produce some of the best pilots in the UAE.”

Emirates Aviation in tie-up with Airways Aviation for pilot training

UAE in Focus

January 201716

UAE in Focus

Emirates and Etihad Airways have been listed among the Top 10 safest airlines in the world, according to the Airline Safety Ranking study for 2017 by the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (Jacdec).

The study found that airlines based in Asia and the Middle East continued to dominate the list of carriers with the best safety track record in 2016.

Emirates ranked seventh while Eti-had Airways took the eighth slot on the list of the world’s safest airlines.

Cathay Pacific, based in Hong Kong, tops the list as the carrier with the best safety record, fol-lowed by Air New Zealand in second position. Hainan Airlines comes in third, followed by Qatar Airways, KLM from the Nether-lands, Eva Air from Taiwan, fol-lowed by Emirates and Etihad. Qantas from Australia and Japan Airlines round up the Top 10.

Earlier, another similar annual survey of the world’s biggest airlines by safe-ty and product rating website, Airlin-eRatings.com, placed Emirates in the seventh and Etihad Airways in the eighth position in the list of the safest airlines in the world.

Qantas was in the top spot followed by Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines,

All Nippon Airlines and American Airlines. In selecting Qantas as the world’s safest airline, AirlineRat-ings.com editors noted that over its 95-year history, the world’s oldest continuously operating airline has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in operations and safety and is now accepted as the industry’s most experienced carrier.

Emirates, Etihad Airways among the Top 10 safest in the world

17 January 2017

Dubai Duty Free (DDF) has announced annual sales of $1.85bn in 2016. DDF opened 7,000sq m of retail in Concourse D on February 24 as part of the phased opening of the newest concourse in Dubai International airport.

UAE in Focus

This brought the retail area under its operation to 36,000sq m in both Du-bai’s airports.

Perfumes remain the highest selling category with annual sales topping $306.85 million, which represents 16.55 per cent of total annual sales. Beverages followed with sales of $295.4 million while cigarettes and tobacco was in third place with sales of $160.7 million.

Cosmetics came in fourth place with sales amounting to $148.8 million followed by Confectionery with $143.75 million . Meanwhile, sales in departures outlets across the con-courses accounted for 86.66 per cent of total annual sales at $1.6bn.

During the year, DDF also recorded 27.119 million sales transactions, an average of 74,097 sales transactions per day across Dubai International and Al Maktoum International air-ports. Its performance won the com-pany 28 awards during the course of the year.

Reflecting on the year at DDF, Exec-utive Vice-Chairman and CEO Colm McLoughlin said: “Overall, it has been a good year for the operation and I would like to thank His High-ness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, for his ongoing support.

I also join His Highness in thanking our great team of staff, our suppliers and of course our customers, for their contribution to our growth and suc-cess.”

Looking ahead to 2017, McLoughlin added: “There is a lot to look forward to [in 2017], including the improve-ment of our retail offer in Dubai In-ternational airport’s Concourse C and in Al Maktoum International airport’s passenger terminal building.

“In Concourse C, we have just opened our outlets in the area that links Con-course C to Concourse B, and we will fully renovate the retail areas in the rest of departures and apron levels of Con-course C over the course of the year.”

Dubai Duty Free clocks $1.85 billion sales

January 201718

UAE in Focus

Under the deal, Lufthansa will place its LH code on Etihad’s flights between Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt and Munich.

Lufthansa has struck its first coopera-tion deal with a Gulf airline, agreeing to sell tickets jointly with Etihad Airways on some routes and leaving the door open to further agreements in other ar-eas.

Germany’s biggest airline has been a fierce critic of Gulf carriers on the grounds their state backing gives them an unfair competitive advantage and it has in the past objected to code-sharing by German rival Air Berlin and Etihad.

Other airlines already work with fast-growing Middle Eastern carri-ers, however, and the code-sharing deal signed recently comes on top of

Lufthansa’s agreement to lease planes and crew from struggling Air Berlin, which is 29-per cent owned by Etihad.

Australia’s Qantas Airways has a simi-lar code-sharing agreement with Emir-ates while British Airways has a reve-nue-sharing deal with Qatar Airways, which owns 20 per cent of BA’s parent IAG.

Independent industry consultant John Strickland said Lufthansa’s deal with Etihad was a positive move.

“Other major airline groups like IAG and Qantas have long seen the value of this,” he said.

Under the deal, Lufthansa will place its LH code on Etihad’s flights between Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt and Munich. Lufthansa had previously scrapped its Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi flights saying they were not profitable due to overca-pacity created by the code-share deal between Etihad and Air Berlin.

Etihad will in turn put its EY code on Lufthansa’s long-haul services between Frankfurt and Rio de Janeiro and Bo-gota.

The two will also consider extend-ing their cooperation in other areas, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said in a statement.

Etihad and Lufthansa announce code-share deal

19 January 2017

UAE in Focus

Aircraft manufacturer Boe-ing announced that the Boe-

ing-Mubadala Co-op internship programme is on course to provide aerospace engineering expertise to bolster the UAE’s aviation capabil-ities. The programme was launched by Boeing and Mubadala in 2015 to support the development of a sustain-able aerospace industry in the UAE. Six students have graduated from the programme to date, and 10 Emirati students will join in August 2017.

The 18-week programme includes professional development activities designed to build the students’ net-work and broaden their exposure to Boeing and aerospace engineering.

Boeing, Mubadala aim to boost UAE aerospace industry

Flydubai certifies its 100th batch of cabin crew

Flydubai has announced the suc-cessful graduation of its 100th

batch of certified Cabin Crew mem-

bers from the Flydubai Training Centre. The batch of 27 candidates will join flydubai’s community of

1,650 Cabin Crew members who represent more than 100 national-ities. The graduates of the training programme received their certifi-cates from Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer for Flydubai, Jilly Sims, senior vice president, In-Flight Services for flydubai and Carolyn O’Brien, Flydubai’s Cabin Crew Training Manager.

Ghaith Al Ghaith said: “Over the past eight years, flydubai has trained thousands of cabin crew who have applied their learnings to make fly-ing a pleasant experience for the mil-lions of passengers who travel with us each year.

“I would like to congratulate each graduate on their achievement and the highly skilled and professional trainers who have helped us reach this important milestone.”

January 201720

Airports are placing a higher prior-ity on IT investments for passenger and airport security with 50 per cent rating it a high priority, up from 37 per cent in 2015, according to the 2016 Airport IT Trends Survey, jointly sponsored by SITA and Air-

ports Council International (ACI) in association with Airline Business. For many airports, the investment focus has shifted to security in the wake of heightened regional ten-sions, some of which directly target air travel.

While investment in passenger pro-cessing technology still ranks the number one priority for airports, it has dropped from 73 per cent in 2015 to 59 per cent this year as se-curity rises in priority.


Investment in passenger processing technology ranks the number one priority for airports as airports give higher priority on IT investments for passenger and airport security.

Special Report

21 January 2017

The survey shows that self-service and mobile dominate the airport landscape. For the first time SI-TA’s research indicates the major-ity of airports worldwide provide self-service check-in for both pas-sengers and bags. Looking ahead, self-service will continue to dom-inate with two-thirds of airports planning major IT investments in this area.

The growing influence of mobile is also evident with nearly every air-port worldwide (90 per cent) under-taking either a major program or a trial project related to mobile servic-es and 74 per cent trialing or piloting context-aware and location-based technology in the next five years.

Matthys Serfontein, SITA Vice President, Airport Solutions, said: “The technology trends at airports reflect the changing world. Invest-ments to support passenger and airport security are up while the in-creasing demands of the connected traveller for self-service and mobile services are also being met.

“We see a shift where airports are also looking to technology to gen-erate non-aeronautical revenue. By 2019, 84 per cent hope to make money by enabling the purchase of airport services through their mobile app. And there is also a clear trend to provide hybrid public Wi-Fi services that combine the convenience of lim-ited free Wi-Fi with commercial of-ferings. Over the next three years the proportion of airports planning to of-fer unrestricted free Wi-Fi will drop from 74 per cent to 54 per cent. This change is mainly driven by airports in North America and the Middle East.”

Using kiosks for services beyond check-in and bag drop to gener-ate revenue will also appear at the world’s airports.

Today a very small number of air-ports have kiosks that allow passen-gers to download digital content, such as the latest films, before they board the flight but by 2019, 30 per cent plan to do so. By that time 42 per cent also expect to have kiosks that enable sales transactions.

SITA’s research takes a look fur-ther into the airport’s digital trans-formation exploring areas such as wearables, biometrics, robotics and context-aware services and how air-ports plan to use these innovative technologies over the next five to ten years.

In the light of the increased focus on security it is not surprising that interest in biometric technology, which supports fast and secure pas-senger processing, is high.

More than one third of airports will invest in single biometric travel to-ken projects in the next five years jumping to the majority (52 per cent) within the decade.

These findings are from the 13th annual SITA Airport IT Trends and reflect the views of more than 225 airports who together manage 36 per cent of the global traffic or 2.3 billion passengers. Almost 50 per cent of survey respondents came from airports within the Top 100 in terms of revenue.

Special Report

January 201722

Middle East News

Airlines in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East will require an addi-tional 200,000 personnel to support the growing demand for new aircraft deliveries over the next two decades, according to Boeing.

The US plane maker announced in its report that the region’s com-mercial aviation industry will need about 92,000 cabin crew, 58,000 pilots and 66,000 technicians alone. The recruitment of aviation per-sonnel will be one of the largest in the world. “We are continuing to see significant need for new pilots and maintenance technicians. This

translates into exciting career op-portunities for those interested in the aerospace industry,” said Sher-ry Carbary, Vice President, Boeing Flight Services.

Across the globe, the total number of new aviation personnel required between 2016 and 2035 will touch 2.1 million, according to the 2016-2035 Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook.

The aircraft manufacturer said its forecast is tied to projections for new airplane deliveries around the globe.

“The demand for new pilots is pri-marily driven by new airplane deliv-eries and fleet mix, while new tech-nician demand is primarily driven by fleet growth.”

Overall, the Asia-Pacific region will lead the recruitment activity, with more than 500,000 new pilots and technicians. China alone is ex-pected to require 111,000 pilots and 119,000 technicians; Southeast Asia 62,000 pilots and 67,000 techni-cians; South Asia 41,000 pilots and 39,000 technicians and Oceanic re-gion 13,000 pilots and 17,000 tech-nicians.

Airline industry in the Middle East to require 92,000 additional cabin crew, 58,000 pilots to support the growing demand for new aircraft deliveries.

Boeing forecasts 200,000 new aviation jobs

23 January 2017

Middle East News

Qatar Airways has completed the acquisition of 10 per cent of

South America’s largest airline group, LATAM.

Qatar’s investment in its One World alliance partner came through an ap-proximately $600 million purchase of newly subscribed LATAM shares.

Both airlines are members of the One-world Global Alliance.

“The entrance of Qatar Airways as a shareholder of LATAM represents a unique opportunity to develop a long-term relationship and explore new opportunities for connectivi-ty with Asia and the Middle East,” LATAM said in a statement. Qatar flies to 10 US cities from its hub in Doha. LATAM flies to Miami, Los

Angeles, Washington Dulles, Orlan-do and New York. Its primary hubs are in Sao Paulo; Bogota, Colombia; and Santiago, Chile.

In addition, LATAM and American have an application for antitrust im-munity pending with regulatory agen-cies in several countries throughout the Americas. The carriers are seeking approval to jointly plan, market and

operate flights between North Amer-ica and six South American countries: Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

Along with its new investment in LATAM, Qatar is a 20 per cent own-er of IAG, the airline group that owns British Airways, Spanish carriers Ibe-ria and Vueling, and Ireland’s Aer Lingus.

Qatar Airways finalises LATAM investment

Oman Air, Oman’s national carri-er, has introduced a new baggage

piece concept which will help the air-line to standardise and in many cases reduce the charges currently in place for additional luggage.

All passengers travelling on Oman Air will receive a free allowance of

one 30 kg piece of checked-in bag-gage with linear dimensions 158 cm. Passengers travelling in Business and First Class will be permitted one extra bag with a maximum weight 20 kg. This will increase to 30 kg for passen-gers with valid Gold and Silver Sindbad cards. Passengers travelling in Econo-my with valid Gold and Silver Sindbad

cards will be permitted one extra bag of a maximum weight 20 kg.

Oman Air’s current pricing model for additional baggage will be replaced with an additional piece concept where-by passengers will be able to purchase additional pieces of luggage with a maximum weight of 20 kg per piece to be checked in, the airline said.

Oman Air has also introduced pricing for Specialist luggage which includes items such as pets, sporting equipment and anything above the stated dimen-sions of 158 cm.

The measures represents Oman Air ef-forts to make the carriage of additional baggage more affordable for passen-gers, the airline said.

Oman Air introduces baggage piece concept

January 201724

Middle East News

Kuwait Airways has taken delivery of its first B777-300((ER) following the arrival of 9K-AOC in Kuwait di-rect from Everett on December 9. Powered by General Electric GE90-115B engines, the widebody twinjet features 334 seats with eight in First, thirty-six in Business, and 290 in Economy.

Airline Chairwoman and CEO, Rasha A. Al Roumi, said during a welcoming ceremony that the aircraft will initially

be deployed on crew familiarisation flights around the Middle East before being deployed on London Heath-row services, likely in the new year. However, the first commercial service was to Dubai.

“While the Boeing 777-300ER is pri-marily geared to long-haul destina-tions, Dubai is our highest frequency destinations (21 times per week); so, we felt that for the first commercial flights we would showcase the new product to passengers who are some

of our most loyal and frequent flyers,” she said.

Kuwait Airways’ widebody fleet cur-rently consists of five A330-200s, four A340-300s, one B747-400(M), and two B777-200(ER)s.

The delivery of the Boeing 777- 300ER, bearing the airline’s new look livery, represents another positive step forward for the airline, in support of its previously announced five-year trans-formation strategy, said a statement.

Kuwait Airways to take delivery of 10 B777-300(ER)s

Kuwait Airways expects to take delivery of its full fleet of ten B777-300(ER)s by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.

25 January 2017

International News

Year 2016 has been one of the saf-est years in aviation history. There have been a relatively small number of air accidents in 2016, a testament to the stringent safety standards now in place around the world.

According to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), which keeps a data-base of all air travel incidents, 2016 was the second safest year on re-cord. There were 19 fatal accidents, resulting in 325 deaths -- down from 560 in 2015.

Given that the year saw around 3.5 billion air passengers flown, that’s just one death per 10,769,230 trav-ellers. Two of the 19 accidents were on flights operated by airlines on the EU “black list”.

Only one year saw fewer deaths - 2013, with 265. But with 3.048 billion boarding a plane that year, according to the World Bank’s data, this amounts to a very similar num-ber of deaths per passenger: one per 11,501,886.

When one discounts hijackings and sabotage, 2015 was actually the safest year on record. The crashes of a Germanwings A320 in March 2015, deliberately caused by co-pi-lot Andreas Lubitz, and a Metrojet A321 in October, due to a suspected bomb, accounted for the majority of the year’s fatalities.

The year also saw the fewest number of fatal crashes involving passenger aircraft - just seven. There have been 11 in 2016. The general trend, how-ever, that air travel has never been safer is easy to see.

“Since 1997 the average number of airliner accidents has shown a steady and persistent decline... thanks to the continuing efforts of interna-tional aviation organisations such as ICAO, IATA, Flight Safety Foun-dation and the aviation industry,” said ASN President Harro Ranter.

But what of the deadliest year in aviation history? For that, one must go back to 1972, which saw a re-

markable 2,370 deaths and 72 fatal accidents. There were 11 crashes that saw at least 100 perish, includ-ing four Aeroflot flights, and others involving Iberia, Sterling Airways, Alitalia, British European Airways, Interflug, Spantax and Eastern Air Lines.

Fearful fliers should be grateful the Seventies are over. The following year, 1973, was the second deadli-est on record, with 69 fatal crashes and 2,028 deaths. The carriers in-volved in the biggest disasters that year included Royal Jordanian, Lib-ya Arab Airlines, Invicta Interna-tional Airlines, Varig and Pan Am. And, of course, Aeroflot, which had a staggering 17 crashes that year.

And 1974 was the fourth deadliest year, with 1,989 fatalities from 68 crashes (eight involving Aeroflot). It should be noted that safety stand-ards have improved drastically at the Russian airline since then - it hasn’t been involved in a fatal accident since 1996.

There have been a relatively small number of air accidents in 2016, a testament to the stringent safety standards now in place around the world.

2016: The second safest year in aviation history

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27 January 2017

International News

Cambodia, Indonesia in direct flight pact

Cambodia and Indonesia have signed a memorandum of understanding

(MoU) concerning direct flights, ac-cording to an official from the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA). A spokesman said the Cambodian government has signed the MoU to pave the way for direct flights from Indonesia to Cambodia, but market factors were the main constraint to making the flights a reality.

Indonesian airline companies were conducting market research on wheth-er to launch the flights.

“The main problem for Indone-sian airline companies is the mar-ket, but there are still choices for them as they can either conduct a direct flight or codeshare with oth-er airlines to save on the cost of a flight to Cambodia,” he said. The official said Indonesian airlines were reluctant to have direct flights to Cambodia because there are less Indonesian tourists visiting Cambodia compared with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Europe.

“Cambodia is not a main destination [for Indonesian tourists], so it is hard to gain profit in this market,” he said.

Ho Vandy, the Secretary-Gener-al of Cambodia’s National Tour-ism Alliance, said luring Indo-nesian tourists to Cambodia was difficult because they are always asking about new tourism sites and products Cambodia has to offer. He added that Indonesia has a large population and direct flights between the two countries would draw more Indonesians to Cambodia.

China cautiously embraces open skies

China has agreed to liberalise passenger flights and re-

move capacity restrictions with Australia, its largest outbound long haul market after the Unit-ed States.

This is a relief to Chinese air-lines, which face bilateral con-straints in North America and Europe. The result is already evident as Chinese airlines de-ploy more capacity and larger aircraft to Australia.

In North American and Euro-pean markets the local gov-ernments hold back on traffic

right expansion (let alone open skies). But for Australia it was the Australian government, which signalled some years ago that it wanted to liberalise once China was ready – a time that has now come.

Australia’s view was progres-sive and detached from bygone days of national carrier inter-est; Chinese airlines hold 90 per cent of the market to Aus-tralia. Elsewhere many govern-ments still hold back on Chi-nese traffic right expansion so their local airlines can continue to grow.

Boeing delivers 500th 787 Dreamliner

Boeing has delivered the 500th 787 Dreamliner, a

787-8 to Avianca, marking an-other milestone in the program’s history.

“Achieving 500 deliveries – the fastest to 500 for twin aisles – is a great accomplishment, made possible by the hard work and dedication of our employ-ees and global suppliers,” said Mark Jenks, Vice President and General Manager, 787 Program,

Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Since entering service in 2011, the 787 Dreamliner fleet has grown to include 48 operators, who have collectively flown 696,000 revenue flights, carry-ing 133 million passengers over 1.7 billion revenue miles.

The 787 family is flying more than 530 routes, with custom-ers opening more than 120 new nonstop routes around the world.

January 201728

In the face of carbon emission and climate change challenges, one gift which we can all be grateful is

the very clear testament to realistic climate progress recently agreed to by the many diverse players in the international air transport sector.

In September, no fewer than 191 governments came together at the Montreal headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to iron out the final points of a new CO2 emissions solution for international flights.

The basic purpose of this global measure is to help aviation mitigate its CO2 emissions that are not already being reduced through new technologies, streamlined operations and improved infrastructure.

Considered an impossible goal by many, especially given the wide-ranging variance in the capabilities and ambitions of the countries that needed to find common ground on it, the Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), presented numerous diplomatic challenges.

The ultimate agreement was further complicated by the fact that private sector organizations representing airlines, airports and many other air transport interests

needed to be brought on board with its approach, including a wide range of non-governmental organizations. As a result of the clear motivation on behalf of these disparate parties to take meaningful climate action, an effective solution was arrived at.

The CORSIA approach is both flexible and pragmatic. It is also a world first for any major industry sector and demonstrates that sufficient leadership and political will does exist today at the national and global levels to safeguard our environment.

The air transport sector is currently responsible for roughly 1.3 per cent of annual man-made CO2 emissions. While that percentage may seem small, governments, airlines and others clearly recognize that it cannot double in lockstep with the number of flights our network manages.

The new CORSIA solution will now help to complement the wide ranging efforts on emissions reductions that the aviation sector is already pursuing, and that have helped modern aircraft become 80 per cent more fuel efficient than the first commercial jets.

It’s my hope that aviation’s gift of climate consensus will become a helpful example for other industries in the years ahead, and lead to further and concrete progress on reining in our collective emissions.


Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard AliuPresident, International Civil Aviation Organization

Opinion

January 201728

29 January 2017

Let me share some thoughts on what I see as the Middle East and North Afria (MENA) regions’

four top issues.

The airport infrastructure in MENA demonstrates the foresight of governments wanting to capture aviation’s economic and social benefits. To keep this competitive advantage, continuous consultation is needed so that capital expenditure aligns industry growth, required service levels and acceptable costs.

I will also sound a note of caution on infrastructure privatization. Saudi Arabia has announced privatization plans for 27 airports. Despite many privatizations around the world we have not seen any examples of airport privatization that have truly met expectations. Whatever be the ownership structure, airlines need airports with sufficient capacity and efficient and technically excellent operations.

Even more urgent is the need to modernize air traffic management in the Gulf. A recent study calculates average delays in the Gulf at 29 minutes with the potential to double by 2025. More expensive technology is not the solution. Regional cooperation is.

There has been an unprecedented rise in taxes and charges across the region — about $700 million in extra costs over 2015. The majority of that is from passenger facility charges. A low cost structure is a key component of the region’s success.

Another trend that we must reverse is the proliferation of disparate consumer protection regulations. Regulators in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Jordan and the Arab Civil Aviation Commission are in various stages of activity in this regard.

The fourth item, security, may well be the most challenging. It is a global issue. There are risks and challenges — insider threats, landside exposure at airports, overflight of conflict zones, and cyber security. Efficient airport checkpoints are important.

Our need for cost-efficient infrastructure to meet demand, for reasonable taxation, for the implementation of global standards and for security is in no way selfish.

Yes, it will help our business. But the bigger picture is the contribution that safe, secure, efficient and sustainable air transport makes to the welfare of nations. The business of freedom makes people’s lives better. Nothing should stand in the way of its success!

Edited excerpts from a speech at the AGM of Arab Air Carriers’ Organisation in Morocco.


Alexandre de JuniacDirector General and CEO, IATA

Opinion

January 201730

But the companies have grown in-creasingly more competitive in recent years as Delta expands its presence in the northwestern United States.

Atlanta-based Delta is the dominant carrier at Minneapolis-St. Paul Inter-national Airport.

The move comes just five days after Alaska closed on its acquisition of Virgin America, making Alaska the fifth-largest US airline. Delta is the country’s second-largest carrier by traffic, after American Airlines.

Alaska Airlines touted the Virgin deal, saying it “brings together two of the country’s favourite airlines into a unified force that will provide an attractive alternative to the ‘Big 4’ airlines that currently control 84 per cent of the domestic market.”

Alaska noted the Virgin deal “opens up growth opportunities in important East Coast business markets by in-creasing Alaska Air Group’s access to high-demand airports like Ronald Reagan Washington National Air-port and the three primary New York

City-area airports: John F. Kenne-dy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty Inter-national Airport.” Delta said it will continue to invest in the Pacific Northwest market. “The decision is a positive milestone for both air-lines,” Delta said, “as Alaska focuses on its merger integration with Virgin America and Delta focuses on creat-ing more customer choice at its Se-attle-Tacoma International Airport hub, where it now operates more than 150 peak-day flights to more than 40 destinations.”

Airlines

Delta Air Lines will end its partnership with Alaska Airlines in May 2017. The two airlines for years had kept codesharing and frequent-flyer agreements that let passengers earn miles while flying on the other carrier.

Delta ends partnership with Alaska Airlines

Alaska becomes the fifth-largest US airline. Delta is the country’s second-largest carrier by traffic, after American Airlines.

31 January 2017

Airlines

Having built a regional Asian network anchored around main-

land China as a source market, HNA Group’s Hong Kong Airlines is lev-eraging its hub capability from short and medium haul connections to long haul transfers. Hong Kong Airlines resumed long haul flying in early 2016 with a service to Cairns and the Gold Coast. Auckland has been add-ed from November 2016 and Hong Kong Airlines should be able to break up the Air New Zealand-Cathay Pa-cific joint venture on the route.

Hong Kong Airlines is restricted from serving major Australian cities due to bilateral limits (Australia and Hong Kong have not been able to agree on increased capacity levels). Hong Kong Airlines’ owner HNA has bought into Virgin Australia, which

plans to serve the key HNA hubs of Beijing and Hong Kong in 2017, pro-viding access from major Australian cities. Virgin could also help Hong Kong Airlines make viable service to smaller Australian cities.

Hong Kong Airlines is receiving a lift in Australia and New Zealand book-

ings, attributed to Asian consumers shifting away from travel in Europe, which has repeatedly been impacted by terrorist acts.

Hong Kong Airlines believes that passengers are “viewing Australia and New Zealand together as more of a safe-haven status destination”.

Hong Kong Airlines to grow in Australia

Delta Air Lines has officially cancelled a deal for 18 Boe-

ing widebody jets. The number two US carrier by traffic inherited a 2005 deal for 18 Boeing 787 jets when it bought Northwest Airlines

three years later, and in 2010 de-ferred deliveries until after 2020 in a move that analysts viewed as a sig-nal it would never take the planes. Northwest had been the US launch customer for the 787 and took op-

tions on 50 more jets that were due to start arriving in 2008. Design and production problems delayed the first 787 delivery—to All Nippon Airways Co.— until 2011.

Delta has focused its widebody jet fleet Airbus Group SE planes, but remains a big Boeing custom-er, ordering 120 of its 737-900ER single-aisle jets. American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. both operate the 787.

The terms of the cancellation are not known, though Boeing had kept the 787s in its order book. The company has booked net deals for 70 of the Dreamliner jets in 2016 and has a backlog totalling 721 of the planes.

Delta Air Lines cancels order for 18 Boeing 787s

January 201732

IATA Director General and CEO Al-exandre de Juniac said the uptick in airfreight volumes had been more than anticipated and that purchasing manag-ers were forecasting an increase in new orders going forward, which augured well for the industry.

“So, we enter 2017 propelled by some much needed positive momentum,” he said.

IATA said there is some optimism over the prospects for the cargo business in 2017.

The break in falling yields and a moder-ate uptick in demand (3.5 per cent) will see cargo industry volumes reaching a record high of 55.7 million tonnes,

up from 53.9 million tonnes in 2016. Industry revenues are expected to rise slightly to $49.4 billion, which is still well below the $60 billion level of annual revenues experienced in 2010-2014.

In October last year, UPS signalled an increased appetite for cargo aircraft, submitting an order to Boeing for 14 747-8 freighters, with the option to purchase an additional 14 over the next three years. UPS officials said the pur-chases will let the integrator upgrade offerings on current routes, but they also left the door open to using the extra capacity in new markets.

While all airfreight markets except Lat-in America reported an increase in year

on-year demand in October, the vol-umes varied considerably.

The Middle East market posted a 9.2 per cent growth in airfreight volumes, with capacity increasing 4.2 per cent.

African carriers’ freight volumes in-creased by 7.4 per cent. However, ca-pacity surged by 24.7 per cent on the back of long-haul expansion, in particu-lar, by Ethiopian Airlines.

Current slowdown in global trade, geo political concerns and the threat of pro-tectionism pose risks to global trade thus impacting the prospects of air car-go industry.

Alexandre de Juniac said that world trade is still sluggish, so air cargo is by no means flying easy. “Growth is the way to overcome the world’s cur-rent economic challenges,” Juniac said. “The EU-Canada agreement is a welcome respite from the current pro-tectionist rhetoric and positive results should soon be evident. Governments everywhere should take note and move in the same direction.”

Boeing in its World Air Cargo Fore-cast stressed on the aviation industry’s importance to global trade, noting that as trade increases, so too will the need for cargo capacity. This demand will help the airfreight market emerge from what it calls “several years” of low-er-than-expected growth.

Cargo & Logistics

Although the global airfreight business continues to face headwinds from weak global trade, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says there are encouraging signs that growth in air cargo volumes, will endure into the New Year.

Positive momentum in the making

Air cargo market could soon be on the upswing in spite of the current challenges of over-capacity and falling yields. There are encouraging signs that growth in air cargo volumes will endure into the New Year.

33 January 2017

Cargo & Logistics

The route, which started on Decem-ber 15, is operated by a Boeing 777-200LR. It can hold 15 tonnes of cargo per flight. It will be the second route in Florida where Emirates SkyCargo offers belly-hold capacity after the theme park city of Orlando was add-ed last year.

The new capacity comes as global cargo volumes decline because of slowing economic growth.

Emirates carried 1.3 million tonnes of cargo during the first half of the 2016-2017 fiscal year, unchanged from a year earlier, even as its cargo capacity rose by 9 per cent during the same period.

“Cargo provides an additional reve-nue source given the significant bel-ly-hold capacity of Emirates Boeing 777s,” said John Strickland, an avia-tion consultant at London-based JLS Consulting.

Emirates has been expanding its US network for the past few years.

“The impact of the new US regime for Gulf carriers will depend on whether it looks at the broader ben-efits to the US economy of direct air services and the jobs created from the large aircraft orders with Boeing and its sub suppliers or whether it listens solely to the complaints of the big three US carriers,” said an official.

Emirates SkyCargo offers about 2,000 tonnes capacity a week from the US. During the 2015-2016 finan-cial year, it handled more than 90,000 tonnes of exports from the US.

The Fort Lauderdale service is ex-pected to open up trade opportunities and provide additional connectivity to Emirates’ cargo customers.

Emirates offers belly-hold cargo ca-pacity on passenger flights to Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Ange-les, New York, Orlando, San Fran-cisco, Seattle and Washington. The carrier also operates freighter services to Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Hou-ston, Los Angeles and New York.

Emirates has added cargo capacity to the US with the launch of a daily service to Fort Lauderdale.

Emirates SkyCargo adds capacity to the US

January 201734

Cargo & Logistics

Qatar Airways Cargo will launch twice weekly Boeing 777 freighter operations to four new destinations in the Americas, starting in early February 2017.

The freighters will fly to the South American cities of Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Quito (the latter subject to governmental approval) and Mi-ami in the US.

They will depart from the Middle East cargo carrier’s Doha home base, via Luxembourg, its Europe-an hub, with stops at Sao Paulo in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Quito in Ecuador.

On the return leg, the freighters will stop in Miami, Florida and Luxem-bourg before arriving in Doha.

These new freighter services aim to meet the growing demand for im-port and export trade in the region and will supplement the belly-hold cargo capacity on Qatar Airways’ daily flights to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Miami.

The launch of new freighter routes brings the carrier’s total freighter destinations in the Americas to 12 while offering belly-hold services to 13 cities on the continent.

Major commodities out of Sao Pau-lo, Buenos Aires and Quito com-

prise fresh flowers, perishables and pharmaceuticals, whilst imports into South America include a wide variety of products ranging from medicines, automotive, chemical products to high tech commodities and equipment for the oil and gas industry. Miami will serve as the airfreight distribution hub to and from the Latin American and Car-ibbean regions.

Qatar Airways recently took delivery of its 11th B777F, taking the total fleet to 21, including eight Airbus A330Fs and two Boeing 747Fs.

Qatar to add four freighter destinations in the Americas

35 January 2017

January 201736

Technology

Aircraft design and production are set to witness continued technological advancements that will bring in radical improvements in operating efficiency.

The next generation of aircraft to come off the production line include the Airbus A350XWB, A320neo, Boeing 737MAX, the 777x, the A330 neo, Embraer E2 series and Bombardier CSeries

Advanced avionics and impressive interior cabin designs and noise re-duction capabilities are all driving in-creased customer demand.

But the wider use of composites, ad-vanced manufacturing technology requirements and conversion to new electrical systems are also rapidly changing the way aircraft are manu-factured and creating challenges across the supply chain as the supply base struggles to make the changes nec-essary to keep up with aircraft OEM (original equipment maker) demands.

Aviation has been successful at de-coupling emissions growth and actual growth. Traffic growth is increasing at an average of 5 per cent annually, while CO2 emissions are growing around 3 per cent.

Newer aircraft, like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787, consume on average less than three litres per 100 passenger kilometres or more than 78 passenger statute miles per US gallon. This is a fuel use which compares favourably to that of compact cars, although aircraft travel much further distances, much faster.

The next generation of aircraft to come off the production line, including the Airbus A350XWB, A320neo, Boeing 737MAX, the 777x, the A330 neo, Embraer E2 series and Bombardier CSeries will offer further improve-

ments in fuel burn and emissions. Tur-boprop aircraft like the Bombardier Q400 and ATR series can provide a more fuel-efficient alternative to jet aircraft to cover shorter distances.

Today, engineers and researchers are making incremental and frequent im-provements that offer large savings overall. For instance, the wingtip de-vices airlines and manufacturers install on new aircraft increase aerodynamic efficiency and reduce fuel usage.

Manufacturers are increasingly using light-weight materials such as carbon composites to build aircraft and com-ponents.. Manufacturers of engines are also using highly advanced ma-terials and processes such as additive layer manufacturing to develop new engines.

Technology on new aircraft can ei-ther be to improve fuel burn through aerodynamic efficiency (mainly airframe), or to reduce actual com-bustion use (mainly engine-related). Combined, these elements create a new aircraft with a reduced environ-mental impact.

Aircraft have a useful life of around 25-30 years, during which they will cover many millions of nautical miles and carry millions of passengers or tonnes of cargo. Because of the long lead times for developing, designing and manufacturing a modern civil air-craft, there tend to be ‘waves’ of new aircraft entering the fleet. We are cur-rently in the middle of such a wave, with a number of new aircraft types coming into the system and replacing older, less fuel-efficient aircraft.

The next generation in the wings

37 January 2017

Integrated seawater energy and agriculture system (ISEAS) can produce bio-fuel for the aviation sector with fewer greenhouse gas emissions than its fossil counterpart, along with sustainable aquaculture food products without freshwater, according to a study

by researchers from Qatar University (QU) and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (Masdar Institute) and funded by Boeing Corporation.

In a new article in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, co-authored by QU Centre for Sus-tainable Development research assis-tant Prof Dr J Jed Brown, a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a potential IS-EAS was conducted. The team quan-tified the energy and material flows throughout the system and calculated the resulting net greenhouse gas emis-sions.

The LCA results showed that the avi-ation bio-fuel produced from this IS-EAS system emits up to 68 per cent less greenhouse gases compared to fossil jet fuel and yields an overall positive net energy balance.

In the ISEAS, seawater is pumped into ponds where high value shrimp and fish are grown for human con-sumption. The nutrient-rich effluent exits the ponds and flows into fields of salt-tolerant plants. The team ex-amined a Salicornia bigelovii halo-phyte - commonly known as glass-wort or samphire - which produces oilseeds similar to soybeans.

The oil extracted from the seeds can be processed into a drop-in bio-fuel

for airplanes, Dr Brown said, adding, “The portion of the seed that remains after oil extraction is high in protein and can be recycled into feed for fish and shrimps.

The dried straw that remains after the oilseeds can be used to generate electricity. Water that leaves the hal-ophyte fields flows into a mangrove wetland where most of the remaining nutrients will be absorbed into man-grove biomass. Branches and leaves from the mangroves can be periodi-cally trimmed to generate electricity with the Salicornia straw.”

“In a conventional aquaculture sys-tem, nutrient-rich aquaculture efflu-ent is frequently discharged untreated back into the sea, which can have neg-ative impacts on water quality of the

receiving water body. In the ISEAS system, the effluent serves as a fer-tiliser source for the halophytes and mangroves, which clean the water by removing nutrients.

Mangroves are also used in many parts of the Gulf region to stabilise erosion-prone coastal regions, rebuild habitats for marine life, and provide permanent carbon sequestration in their biomass.”

Dr Brown pointed out that “as the hu-man population continues to rise in the Gulf region, there is a greater need to provide food, water and low-carbon energy for the populace. Since there is a great scarcity of freshwater in this region, any agriculture or bio-energy projects that rely on freshwater will be unsustainable.

Aviation bio-fuel from seawater agro system

A study by researchers from Qatar University and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and funded by Boeing, finds that bio-fuel for aviation can be produced from integrated seawater energy and agriculture system.

Technology

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