205 thousand air traffic movements during the first four months of 2010, up 11.5%

Average growth of UAE air traffic movements in the first four months of 2010 was 11.5%, with a total of 205.7 thousand air traffic movements, compared with 184.7 thousand air traffic movements during the same period last year.

GCAA also announced continued high growth rates in April 2010, compared to April last year, across all air activities and operations, including air safety, security, infrastructure, air transport, licensing, aeromedical and many transactions in relation to civil aviation and associated operations in the UAE.

GCAA's monthly report of April 2010 showed that total UAE air traffic movements were 52.3 thousand, almost 10.6% up when compared to April 2009. Average daily air traffic movements in April 2010 were 1744, which represents an increase of 10.6% compared to air traffic movements in April 2009 which saw a daily average of 1577 air traffic movements.

Dubai ranked first with 23707 air traffic movements, or almost 45.3% of total UAE air traffic movements. Transit flights stood next at 11632, representing 22% of total air traffic movements. Abu Dhabi ranked third with 7674 air traffic movements, or 14.6% of total UAE air traffic movements in April 2010.

According to the report, air traffic movements in Sharjah International Airport ranked fourth with 5362 movements representing 10% of total UAE air traffic movements. Local flights between UAE airports were in the fifth position with 3367 movements, representing 6.4% of total air traffic movements. Fujairah International Airport witnessed 335 movements, while Al Ain Airport and Ras Al Khaimah International Airport had 186 and 58 air traffic movements respectively. The three airports together represented 1.1% of total UAE air traffic movements last April.

The report indicated that as far as air safety is concerned, GCAA issued and renewed 22 certificates for aircraft maintenance companies, 5 aircraft registration certificates and 21 airworthiness certificates. Further, GCAA conducted 38 inspections and audits at the local and non-local levels, issued 2 air operator certificates, completed 6 aircraft modification transactions, issued 30 simulator certificates and 12 examination permits, provided air safety training to 20 of its staff and banned 2 aircrafts, but no operators. As such, there were 140 air safety-related activities in April 2010.

As for security and infrastructure operations, GCAA conducted 19 inspections and audits of hazard material shippers operating in the UAE and issued 20 permits for companies working in this field. It also issued 2 leaflets in relation to security and infrastructure operations and recorded 6 violations in relation to infrastructure safety standards.

GCAA issued 4 airport operation permits, prepared 135 aviation accident review reports, held 33 meetings in relation to security and infrastructure operations with several institutions and companies operating in the field of civil aviation in the UAE, and provided 2 emergency training courses. As such, activities related to security and infrastructure in April 2010 stood at 221.

Regarding air transport, GCAA signed in April a memorandum of understanding with the Arab Republic of Egypt, after the two parties held a preparatory meeting and conducted talks for this purpose in the same month. In addition, GCAA held a meeting to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in air transport in Morocco, and participated in the 44th session of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Transports Ministers held in Cairo at the end of April.

As for crew licensing, GCAA issued 240 new crew licenses, renewed 268 licenses, issued 34 temporary permits and 24 letters certifying aircraft license details, completed 44 type additions to licenses, issued 40 replacement licenses, conducted 63 crew examinations and licensed 3 authorized air examiners, thereby bringing the number of crew licensing transactions in April 2010 to 724.

As for aircraft maintenance engineers licensing, GCAA issued 31 new licenses, renewed 18 licenses, completed 495 type additions to licenses, issued 5 replacement licenses and 18 temporary permits, conducted 152 aircraft maintenance engineer examinations and issued 3 letters certifying aviation license details, thereby bringing the total number of aircraft maintenance engineers licensing transactions in April 2010 to 722.

Regarding aeromedical activities, the report indicated that GCAA issued 964 medical certificates in various qualified categories, appointed 9 medical committees to hold medical councils, approved 3 medical councils, suspended 1 medical certificate, carried out 41 transactions to return crew licenses and conducted two audits of clinics. As such, aeromedical-related transactions in April 2010 stood at 1020.

Further, the report showed that GCAA issued 2 new licenses and renewed other 2 to air traffic controllers, issued 4 air traffic control training permits, conducted 8 type additions to licenses and approved 5 air traffic control training programmes, thereby brining the total number of transactions related to air traffic controllers in April 2010 to 21. In addition, GCAA conducted 6 technical, administrative and internal training courses in relation to administrative and financial operations with the participation of 15 trainees from GCAA.

The report also indicated that the GCAA Department of Strategic Planning and Corporate Excellence delivered last month the final draft of the strategic and operational plan 2011-2013 to the General Secretariat of the Cabinet, prepared a complete and comprehensive methodology for the management of GCAA's projects, completed the RFP regarding the development of GCAA's website, contacted the concerned companies to submit their tenders and completed reviewing the user requirements definition output under the e-licenses project.

The Department also carried out the training programmes under the memorandum of understanding with Arab Civil Aviation Commission and completed the first training presentation under the memorandum of understanding with African Civil Aviation Commission. The GCAA IT Department completed the e-audit system, the second phase of the first release of ROSI system and is working on the second release. It has also completed the implementation of the information security standards and information technology services project. In this respect, GCAA was awarded the ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certificates in information security and information technology services.

The GCAA's representative office with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) attended all meetings of the Committee of the ICAO Council scheduled in April 2010. In addition, Captain Aysha Al Hamili represented UAE in the High Level Conference on Safety and Environment 2010 held in Galapagos between 6-9 April 2010.

H.E. Saif Mohammad Al Suwaidi, Director General, GCAA commented: "Stability and growth characterized air operations in the UAE in spite of the clear effects of ash clouds from the active volcano in Iceland on air operations worldwide last month. This is attributed to the diverse operations with no focus on one region, the ability to find appropriate alternative in emergencies and the advanced legislative and legal framework in relation to aviation security, air safety and regulation of air traffic in the UAE."