Better air traffic management will be put in place

The increasing density of both airports and associated traffic in the UAE raises the issue of safety.

This proliferation will not jeopardise that, but actually will bring about better air traffic management and upgraded facilities, International Air Transport Association (IATA) regional vice-president Majdi Sabri told Gulf News.

Rashed Al Khanjari, chief consultant, Enterprise Consultancy of Abu Dhabi, said: "The aviation industry is a different kind of industry. They make sure that safety steps are being implemented. Normally they [the regional airports] go by the international standards."

The UAE is a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which promotes understanding and security through cooperative regulation.

"They have to implement the ICAO standards. At the moment, for example, Abu Dhabi is expanding its space capability in terms of ground radar, air traffic control, etc," Al Khanjari said. "The Department of Civil Aviation has understood the expansion and is building.

"As long as they keep on applying these standards, I don't think there would be a concern. But I think it is going to be tough. The UAE airspace is not that big."

Modelling

The region is conscious of these issues, but it is still important to raise them, says Rohit Talwar, CEO of Fast Future. Although a lot is happening here in making safety a priority, there is no place for complacency, he adds. "I think it is critical that those planning solutions do a lot of modelling of peak possible demand and worst-case scenarios to make sure that air traffic control systems can meet the toughest requirements."

Abu Dhabi is hosting the first Middle East Aviation Safety Summit next month. In welcoming this event to the region, Mohammad Ganim Al Gaith, director general of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, said: "In order to continue enhancing the safety of global aviation we must continue refining common standards, regulations and safety procedures."