Gulf – A crossroads or grid-lock?

Last week was another great example of the thriving aviation industry in the UAE. Eighty years since the first aircraft landed at Sharjah, RAK Airways launched its inaugural service from Ras Al Khaimah to the capital, allowing its passengers to benefit from a code-sharing agreement with Etihad Airways.

It was also the week which saw Emirates take delivery of three wide-bodied jets in a single day, including its 25th A380, and the Abu Dhabi Airports Company hosted the prestigious 18th World Routes Development Forum.

With the rapid growth in aviation in the region, many commentators have described the Gulf as being the “crossroads of global air traffic”. The question, however, is whether that crossroads will be a free-flowing effective intersection, or a grid-locked four-way stop.

All over the Middle East, we see significant investment in modern aircraft fleets and new airport projects.

Airport planners concern themselves not only with iconic and functional terminal buildings, with sufficient facilities and efficient processes for handling check-in and baggage collection, but they also design the external infrastructure, such as roads, metro and other transport links.

However there is one vital piece of the jigsaw that often gets overlooked, perhaps because it is the one that is hardest to see: airspace.

Failure to invest in effective airspace management brings a real risk. The passenger of the future will arrive at and transit through the new airport quickly and effortlessly, and take their seat in a comfortable new aircraft, only to be told their departure is delayed due to “air traffic control restrictions.”

Air traffic controllers the world over are hard-working professionals who don’t enjoy having to impose restrictions or delay flights. When they do, it is often the result of airspace capacity having been reached, resulting in the flow of aircraft into or out of that airspace needing to be regulated.

Authorities can invest in new systems, redesign their national airspace and train additional staff, but these efforts can only be fully rewarded if their neighbours make similar investments. It is the equivalent of a country building a four-lane highway all the way to the border but then everyone has to queue to access the single-track road on the other side.

That is why the Gulf in particular needs pan-regional cooperation and coordinated planning to ensure that the growth ambitions of the aviation industry are fully realized. That way, the financial benefits that aviation generates to the wider economy are not lost.

International trade bodies exist, but not every authority is a member. International authorities exist, but they don’t have a mandate to ensure cooperation.

Governments can work together to overcome obstacles in other areas. When governments were concerned about potential restrictions of oil through the Straits of Hormuz, for example, plans were put in place to design alternative routes. Investment in the regional planning and management of airspace in the Middle East is an issue that requires similar political visibility and attention.

The Single European Skies project is an example of such cooperation. Some bemoan the slow pace of progress over the last 10 years but it is a step in the right direction. Recognising that the airspace over Europe is fragmented, with insufficient coordination between Air Traffic Management (ATM) providers, air traffic control systems and between civil and military airspace users, the project seeks to address the issues of safety, capacity and performance at a regional as opposed to national level.

One initiative of this project has been to reduce the sixty-seven portions of airspace already in place in Europe and to replace them with nine airspace blocks, in which air traffic flows and air navigation services are integrated and managed according to operational needs, rather than national boundaries.

The UK and Ireland established Europe’s first such airspace block to manage jointly the airspace over both countries and part of the North Atlantic, delivering a range of performance improvements.

Such cooperation brings additional benefits too. Between 2008 and 2011, new efficient flight routings have enabled 48,000 tonnes of fuel savings, equivalent to 152,000 tonnes of Carbon dioxide, and worth more than Dh195 million to airlines.

As work continues on the collaboration, estimated savings in 2012 alone are expected to be 25,000 tonnes of fuel, equivalent to 80,000 tonnes of reduced Carbon dioxide emissions. Taking reduced maintenance and crew costs generated by reduced delays into account as well as fuel savings, the expected benefits to the airlines are more than Dh120 million.

Considering the rapid growth experienced over the last fifteen years, the UAE has performed exceptionally well to cope with challenges so far. However a leadership opportunity exists now for the UAE to show the region how the benefits of its federal model for air traffic control can be expanded to deliver benefits at a pan-GCC level.

If that happens, we will see the crossroads of air travel become the free flowing intersection that we all want. At that point, the sky’s the limit.

John Swift is Director, Middle East of NATS, an air traffic management solutions company.