Airspace redesign panacea to cut costs

ALKESH SHARMa / Emirates Business

While the Middle East has surpassed air traffic growth rate globally, the region is also plagued by the persistent hurdles of rising costs and other challenges in smooth supervision of airspace.
However, industry experts vouch that a smart redesigning of airspace in this region could significantly add to the course of cost cuttings and contribute in the effective management of the traffic irrespective of national borders.
Notably, HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, had also supported the concept of airspace redesign. During the World Government Summit, in February, he maintained that there would be huge savings of nearly 12 percent for the airline through a redesign of the region’s airspace.
“Dubai is the heart of global business. According to preliminary passenger traffic results for most- travelled airports in 2015, Dubai has been ranked the third globally with 78 million passengers handled in 2015, up from sixth in 2014. Therefore burden is rising continually and an intelligent redesign of the airspace could ease some portion of this mounting burden while adding to the profits of all stakeholders,” Junaid Mohammed, a technical advisor associated with various GCC airports, who is currently based in Bahrain, told Emirates Business.
As per the reports, the already overcrowded GCC airspace is predicted to accommodate over double the current air traffic movements by 2035. Specifically in the UAE, where good portion of airspace is earmarked for the military use, the daily movements of air traffic will surge by over 100 percent by 2035.
Yuan Becker, an aeronautical scientist from Germany, who was in Dubai to participate in the Airport Show, told Emirates business, “This is not at all an arduous task. All GCC nations can join hands while redesigning the airspace of this region. We have to understand that this cannot be done in isolation or on regional basis if we want to reach the ultimate goal. Therefore we have to ensure that more and more number of countries are participating in this exercise. Airspace redesign can cut costs by 8 to 15 percent, depending upon various circumstances.”
“Many European countries have done the same quite fruitfully. There are instances where we have air routes for many years and we ourselves are not sure about their exact usage. Hence periodic alterations, as part of a bigger airspace redesign programme, should be done,” pointed out Becker.
Considering the governments’ keen efforts and rapid developments taking place in this industry, Middle East region’s aviation sector is on the radar of many global stakeholders. Reports say that carriers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will purchase nearly1100 new aircraft, between 2016 and 2023.