Via dubai august 2014 final en

Supersonic dream

Monthly Newsletter issued by Dubai Civil Aviation Authority

Inside DCAA DCAA participates in 4 DIHQA

www.viadubaionline.com

Issue 15 August 2014

UAE in Focus GDRFA-Dubai plans 6 to launch APIS by end-2014 Dubai plans world’s first 7 temperature-controlled mini city

New bio fuel initiative in the UAE

7

8

International 10 Work begins for world’s biggest airport in Istanbul GMR wins in Maldives 11 airport cancellation case

Ahmed Hamad

4

6

Opinion Innovation in airport security systems

Flashback Working with 20 a one-team spirit

Dubai plans world’s first temperature-controlled mini city

DCAA to expand online approval system for Dangerous Goods (DG) transportation

Middle East Shariah fund to signal Gulf carrier boom

14

The dream of flying faster than the speed of sound lives on

12

Bob Pollard

In Focus 14

Create the ideal guest experience

A globally harmonized air navigation system 12

Eugene Hoeven

13

Cargo & Logistics 16

Richard Gammon

Growing role of IT in travel business

13

Technology 18

Tony Tyler

Message from the President 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 AlMaktoum, 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 Supervision Mohammed Abdulla Ahli Coordinator Hanan Al Mazimi Executive Editor Mohammed Abdul Mannan Creative Manager Mohammed Akram E-mail: viadubai@naddalshiba.com 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.

Advertise with us Editorial, Production, PR & Marketing Nadd AlShiba PR and Event Management

Tel +971 4 25 66 707 Fax +971 4 25 66 704 info@naddalshiba.com www.naddalshiba.com

Back to full capacity

F

light operations at the Dubai International Airport have been restored fully on July 21 following the completion of the runway refurbishment as scheduled.

The number of aircrafts on the airside and passengers in all the three terminals is back to normal levels after 80 day maintenance programme.

We are confident the completion of the major runway refurbishment programme in our history and full schedule operations ahead of the Eid Al Fitr holidays will bring in a significant surge in air traffic.

To safeguard service levels and optimize capacity while the work was underway, the scheduled passenger flights were reduced and all freighter, charter and general aviation flights were diverted to Al Maktoum International.

As airlines used bigger aircraft where possible and load factors were higher than usual, the actual reduction in seat and passenger numbers was calculated to be less than 26 per cent.

Passenger traffic declined a mere 2.5 per cent to 5.09 million people in May this year compared with the previous year.

We are confident about the airport handling over 70 million passengers in

Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum 2014 which will bring us further closer to becoming the world’s number one airport for international passengers.

I would like to thank all our stakeholders for their support and cooperation in our efforts to expand the facilities at the airport and for continuously working towards expanding the civil aviation industry.

Our next project that will soon become a reality is a new concourse. The Concourse D which will be connected to an existing terminal by automated train is due to open in the first quarter of next year.

A trial run is planned to be conducted soon. The fourth concourse is part of the $7.8 billion expansion programme designed to boost the airport’s capacity to over 100 million passengers annually by 2020.

The development of Al Maktoum International Airport with an eventual capacity of 160 million passengers is also progressing in phases. We are on the mark in terms of giving a big boost to the aviation industry which we anticipate will contribute 32 per cent to Dubai’s GDP by 2020.

Printed by Printwell Dubai

Our Vision Dubai 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 Mission Dubai Civil Aviation Authority is committed to support the aviation sector in:

E-mail: dcaa@dcaa.gov.ae Website: www.dcaa.gov.ae Tel: (971) 4 216 2009 Fax: (971) 4 224 4502 P.O.BOX 49888 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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 Dubai u Ensuring sustainable and responsible growth committed to safety, health, environment and security u Providing and creating customer-focused services to gain competitive advantage from innovation, knowledge and efficiency u Building and retaining capabilities, for the aviation sector, while offering career opportunities for Nationals u Ensuring a transparent, effective and commercially balanced regulatory framework that reflects the interests of the aviation industry, Dubai and the UAE u Providing efficient and cost-effective services to the aviation sector

facebook.com/pages/Dubai-Civil-Aviation-Authority/299170846763911

twitter.com/DcaaDubai

youtube.com/user/dcaadubai

Message

from the Director General

DCAA wins Arab Social Responsibility Gold Award Mohammed Abdulla Ahli

The Heart of an Organization

I

n today’s competitive and performance-driven business environment in both government and private sectors, having cutting-edge technology, aggressive marketing strategies and customer services is just not enough for an organization to be successful.

Nowadays, organizations are increasingly looking at other factors to build up for the advantages to operate on sound lines and to grow.

A good human resources management is one the most important elements in determining the success or failure of an organization.

Human resources are undoubtedly an organization’s true capital which also contributes enormously to its profitability and to the economic sector it operates it.

At DCAA, we recognize the importance of focusing on the human factor to improve the productivity and excel. We continuously work towards recruiting and retaining talented professionals and training and developing them to enhance their performance, competencies and morale.

The organization also take efforts to meet the expectation of the employees by ensuring an inspiring and most conducive workplace atmosphere that enables them to perform well and satisfactorily.

Successful organizations do not owe their success solely to market realities and sustainable competitive advantages, but those which considers their human capital as their most important asset and also those whose employees who commit themselves to the achievement of organizational goals.

A good working condition is one of the benefits that the employees can expect from an efficient human resource team. A safe, clean and healthy environment can bring out the best in an employee.

A friendly atmosphere gives the staff members’ job satisfaction as well. The management of organizations are increasingly realizing the need to enhance their efforts and energies into building up a strong and effective human resources management system.

At DCAA, we have in place a good human resources management team that has been working towards not only recruiting and retaining talented and qualified professionals but also contributing towards the goal of Emiratisation through attracting more and more UAE nationals to take up responsible roles in the aviation industry.

The continuous expansion of the aviation industry and the winning of the rights by the UAE to host Expo 2020 in Dubai have created a strong demand for specialized and skilled professionals in the aviation industry.

Since the inception of the DCAA in 2007, we have focused our attention on achieving a number of important goals related to human resources, the foremost being the Emiratisation. We are keen about attracting best talent that will contribute towards an outstanding performance for not just the DCAA but the entire aviation sector.

2

August 2014

T

he Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) has added another award to its list of public recognition with the Arab Organization for Social Responsibility presenting it with an Excellence Gold Shield in recognition of its excellence in social responsibility.

A senior DCAA official received the award during a ceremony held for the fourth edition of the annual recognition programme.

The ceremony was attended by a number of dignitaries and officials from several countries, including Lebanon, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Jordan and Morocco.

The awards programme is designed to raise public and corporate awareness about the social responsibility and for popularizing it as a strategic concept for both public and private sectors.

The DCAA is working towards improving and developing its social responsibility profile by using all possible tools to achieve sustainable development through an effective and wider social responsibility role.

The Lebanon-based Arab Organization for Social Responsibility (AOSR) aims to encourage civil society to engage in social responsibilities and work to develop principles accorded to the improvement and development of social responsibility and support programs in achieving sustainable development in the Arab region in strategy formation to get to the international quality standards in the areas of social responsibility.

It aims raise the level of engagement with the concept of social responsibility and adapt it on the local level. It also aims to instill and promote this strategic concept in the work of Arab municipalities, governments, and companies with prudent management and the dissemination of the social responsibility culture through all available means. 

Inside DCAA

DCAA participates in DIHQA

L

ed by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) Director General, Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, senior management and employees of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) has participated in the 18th edition of Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) whose programmes included Islamic lectures, Holy Quran memorization and recitation contests, Islamic Personality of the Year award and Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum Quran Award.

As a token of appreciation for DCAA’s support and participation in the DIHQA, Ibrahim Bu Melha, Ad-

viser to the Ruler of Dubai for Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs and Chairman of DIHQA Organizing Committee, presented a memento to Mohammed Ahli at a ceremony attended by senior government officials, business and other prominent personalities.

Heads of various departments and sections of DCAA were also present.

DIHQA has become an important event for the Muslims around the world during the Holy Month of Ramadan. It is also one of the most widely-watched events on the television with the award activities broadcast across the world. 

DCAA & Helidubai signs LOA

T

he Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and Helidubai have signed a Letter of Agreement (LOA) for promoting and enhancing flight safety and compliance at heliports in and around the Emirate of Dubai. The LOA outlines the scope of cooperation between the DCAA and Helidubai for ensuring safe operations at the Heliport (DFC) as well as all future heliport operations that will be operated by Helidubai.

The LOA was signed by Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, Director General of DCAA, and Ebrahim Redha Ali Al Hashimy, Deputy Commander of Dubai Airwing, in the presence of Directors and Managers from both the organizations and media representatives.

The LOA aims to utilize the expertise of both DCAA and

Helidubai for mutual benefit to enhance and promote Safe Helicopter Operations throughout the Emirate of Dubai. The information will be shared with the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to form federal regulations for heliport operations.

With this LOA in place, the two entities are keen to promote and improve flight safety awareness at all the heliports throughout the Emirate of Dubai.

The volume of helicopter traffic is increasing and the DCAA said it has to ensure that such operations are not only safe in the air but on the ground infrastructure as well in addition to ensuring that security and obstacle control are all in place so as to make Dubai a leader is safe helicopter transit operations. 

DCAA delegation visits DIHQA headquarters

A

delegation of senior employees of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) visited the headquarters of Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) in Al Mamzar and gained valuable insights into the history and activities of the organization promoting Islamic teaching and values.

The visit was organized by the DCAA’s Corporate Communications Section. The delegation, which also included women employees, toured the imposing DIHQA build-

ing which is adorned with Islamic calligraphy works on its walls and interiors.

They also toured a museum which houses several Islamic artifacts, calligraphy works and unique and antique copies of Holy Quran.

DIHQA has been actively promoting Holy Quran and Islamic teachings across the world through a variety of programmes, including contests for Holy Quran recitation and memorization. DCAA has remained a strong supporter of DIHQA.  August 2014

3

Exclusive

Huge surge in the number of approvals for DG transportation

DCAA to expand online approval system for Dangerous Goods (DG) transportation

T

he Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) is working on linking its online approval system for Dangerous Goods transportation with the State Security Department (SSD) and Dubai Police for faster and seamless sanction of applications for transportation of explosives and radioactive materials.

In an exclusive interview with Via Dubai, Ahmed Hamad Al Hammadi, Head of Dangerous Goods Section at Aviation Security & Accident Investigation Department, said the expanded system was likely to be up and running by the end of 2014.

Last year, the DCAA rejected 654 requests for Dangerous Goods transportation and eight for the Firearms for a variety of reasons, including noncompliance of rules and regulations.

In the first half of 2014, about 189 applications for Dangerous Goods transportation were turned down.

He said the Authority issued 9764 No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for Dangerous Goods transportation by air in 2013, up from 8146 NOCs, while 686 approvals were given for Firearms transportation last year as against 588 in the year 2012. In the first half of 2014, as many as 4344 and 346 NOCs were issued for the Dangerous Goods and Firearms, respectively.

4

August 2014

Tell us about the role and responsibilities of Dangerous Goods Section?

The Dangerous Goods Section was established in May 2010 and I am heading the Section since then.

I have done specialized courses about Dangerous Goods at Geneva, Singapore, Spain and Qatar.

We have three employees – all UAE nationals - working at the Section. One of them has already done a certification programme in Singapore and two will start next year. Our main role is to ensure compliance of IATA regulations and ICAO policies concerning the transportation of Dangerous Goods by passenger and cargo airlines. We also conduct regular inspection of storage facilities at the Dubai Cargo Village and the warehouses of big cargo companies to ensure strict compliance of IATA and ICAO regulations. We have an excellent safety and security track record when it comes to Dangerous Goods and Firearms transportation by air due to strict adherence to

local and international rules and regulations that eliminates the chances of suspicious shipment making their way to and from Dubai. We maintain an excellent and wider cooperation with the Dubai Airports, airlines industry, cargo and freight forwarding agencies, State Security Department, Dubai Police and Dubai Cargo Village. The volume of cargo movement by both passenger and cargo airlines has been increasing significantly and so is the case with the transportation of Dangerous Goods and Firearms. We have successfully eliminated the need for the manual approvals through the introduction of an online system. We are working on expanding it through linking with the State Security Department and Dubai Police for their approvals in two categories of Dangerous Goods – Explosives and Radioactive materials.

Can you elaborate on the e-system for approvals that you have in place now?

The e-system is line with the Smart Government initiative announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai for implementation by all the government bodies by 2015. DCAA is ahead of the deadline for introduction of e-Services. We launched the online approvals for the transportation of firearms and dangerous goods by

Exclusive

IATA Manual covers 3507 dangerous goods under nine categories airlines and cargo agents in compliance with ICAO Annex 18 and IATA Dangerous Goods regulations. The Dubai Civil Aviation Policy (DCAP) was amended suitably to cover our system and processes. All applications for NOCs for Dangerous Goods and Firearms have to be submitted online through our website – www.dcaa. gov.ae. Cargo agencies and freight forwarders apply for approvals through the e-system and their applications are processed electronically, eliminating the need to complete the transactions manually. They have to approach the State Security Department (SSD) and Dubai Police for their approvals for transportation of explosives and radioactive materials.

We are working on eliminating this manual approach in these two categories by the end of 2014. All of us agreed on what needs to be done from our sides. DCAA will provide SSD and Dubai Police officials access to our system to process the applications for faster approval.

The applicant will be notified about the approval and rejection of NOCs electronically. We are dealing with 133 cargo agencies, freight forwarders and Airlines for Dangerous Goods and Firearms transportation.

How many approvals have been given by the Dangerous Goods Section in 2013 and in the first half of 2014?

We have issued 9764 No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for Dangerous Goods transportation by both passenger and cargo airlines in 2013, up from 8146 NOCs, while 686 approvals were given for Firearms transportation last year as against 588 in the year 2012.

In the first half of 2014, as

many as 4344 and 346 NOCs were issued for the Dangerous Goods and Firearms, respectively. Last year, we rejected 654 requests for Dangerous Goods transportation and eight for the Firearms for a variety of reasons, including noncompliance of international and local rules and regulations.

In the first half of 2014, about 189 applications for Dangerous Goods transportation were turned down. The compliance rate by the cargo industry is very high and we are working to improve this further through creating industry awareness about the latest in Dangerous Goods regulations and potential suspicious shipments.

What are Dangerous Goods as per IATA manual?

According to figures released by International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airline industry handles 52 million tons of cargo a day globally. In its 55th edition of Danger-

ous Goods Regulations (DGR) Manual, the IATA which has 240 airlines as its members has specified 3507 goods under nine categories as being dangerous - materials or items with hazardous properties which, if not properly controlled, present a potential hazard to human health and safety, infrastructure and or their means of transport. The transportation of dangerous goods is controlled and governed by a variety of different regulatory regimes, operating at both the national and international levels. Collectively, these regulatory regimes mandate the means by which dangerous goods are to be handled, packaged, labeled and transported.

Regulatory frameworks incorporate comprehensive classification systems of hazards to provide taxonomy of dangerous goods. Classification of dangerous goods is broken down into nine classes

According to figures released by International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airline industry handles 52 million tons of cargo a day globally according to the type of danger materials or items present.

It also specifies the quantity of each item permitted for transportation in the belly cargo of passenger airlines and freighters. The nine categories are: Explosives, Gases, Flammable Liquids, Flammable Solids, Oxidizing Substances, Toxic and Infectious Substances, Radioactive Material, Corrosives and Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods. The multitude of dangerous goods regimes across the world and the complexity of dangerous goods classifications and regulations render compliance a particularly difficult task. We are proficient in all nine classes of dangerous goods. We reject the applications if there is ambiguity and lack of clarity and non-compliance with the Dangerous Goods Material Safety Datasheet (MSDS).

Are you planning to enhance awareness and cooperation with the cargo industry?

We already have a wide and effective cooperation with the cargo agencies and freight forwarders along with the government authorities. We plan to conduct a Cargo Agents Compliance Inspection in 2015 to raise the knowledge about the Dangerous Goods and Firearms among the industry professionals. The awareness level about the rules and regulations governing this segment is high among the industry professionals, but an update is always helpful for all of us in taking the safety and security levels a few notches up. ď‚ƒ August 2014

5

UAE in Focus

GDRFA-Dubai plans to launch APIS by end-2014

T

he General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFADubai) is working on plans to launch the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) by the end of 2014 or early next year after final approval of the Ministry of Interior.

In an interview with Manafez Dubai, Major General Obaid Muhair bin Suroor, Deputy Director General of GDRFA-Dubai, said under the directives of Lieutenant General His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of UAE and Minister of Interior, the new system will help airlines process their passengers’ demographic and traveling details before their arrival in the UAE. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, chairs a higher committee for the project, while Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, GDRFA-Dubai Director General, is the vice chairman.

The Ministry of Interior had assigned GDRFA-Dubai to oversee the project since the launch of APIS concept in 2009. The APIS, which was put on trial for a couple of years to test its efficacy, aims to raise the security at airports and simultaneously reduce the time

of passenger-checking procedures to less than 20 seconds.

GDRFA-Dubai is in the forefront in adopting Smart technologies for secure and seamless passenger facilitation at Dubai’s two airports and land and sea borders.

It has introduced over 267 e-services till now and is likely to achieve the goal of becoming a totally Smart organization before the 2015 deadline set for Smart Government initiative.

He said: “The use of technologies like APIS also helps reduce complications and disparities in security-check procedures faced by passengers while dealing with different airport operators and airlines in different countries.”

Major General Obaid said the system will link airline companies that use Dubai International Airport with the GDRFA-Dubai in order to help them enhance their abilities to discover fake or expired documents, including passports and visas, before they transport the passengers to the UAE. He said the APIS is ready for implementation at national level and a final approval from the government is likely any time soon.

The first phase of APIS will start with the First and Business class passengers of Emirates Airlines and the Economy class passengers will be covered in the second phase.

Major General Obaid Muhair bin Suroor

At a later stage, the government will circulate guidelines to all the airlines to follow the suit and benefit from the APIS, he added.

The system is currently being applied in the US and some European countries. The UAE too need to implement the APIS at its airports which handled over 90 million passengers in 2013 out of which more than 66 million at Dubai International Airport. Dubai International Airport is set to become the world’s busiest for international passengers by next year. 

UN commends Emirates ID T

he United Nations has commended the Emirates Identity Authority for its world-class biometric enrolment of the entire population through the Emirates ID. The ‘e-Government Survey 2014: e-Government for the Future We Want’) report includes a special box item in which it describes the Emirates ID’s biometric enrollment programme as “one of the world’s best biometric programmes”.

The study has been published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). The report said: “The deployment of the Emirates ID Biometric Enrolment as part of the National ID Registration Programme is recognized as one of the world’s best biometric programmes.”

6

August 2014

It added that Emirates ID Authority collects fingerprints of all the citizens and legal residents above the

age of 15 in the country. It is mandatory for everyone residing in the country to be registered in the National Population Register. Considering the unique demographic composition of the country where expatriates amount to nearly 90 per cent of the population, the biometric enrolment is part of the mandatory health certification for all expatriates, making it convenient for the residents.

The current database boasts of over a 105 million prints of rolled fingerprints, plan and hand side prints, in addition to over 15 million facial images.

The best two fingerprints are stored in a secure, encrypted

container in the Smart Card that is issued as the National ID Card. The Smart Card is provided with a MatchOn-Card Applet which allows for a biometric verification and authentication enabling assertion of an individual’s identity on demand. The security on the ID card is ensured by the encrypted containers which are enabled only through the National Validation Gateway. 

UAE in Focus

Dubai plans world’s first temperaturecontrolled mini city

D

ubai is bundling a lot of “world firsts” for the Mall of the World development.

The project is to be the retail and hospitality showpiece development for the Expo 2020, alongside the planned mega convention centre and related infrastructure that will be rolling out of the design board shortly.

The Mall of the World is to be located along Sheikh Zayed Road. But in its conceptualization, the project – which will be managed by Dubai Holding - will be nothing less than a city-with-

in-a-city and also include 100 hotels. The development will be staggered along multiple phases.

Apart from being the largest mall in the making by occupying eight million square feet, it is being billed as the world’s first “temperature-controlled (pedestrian) city” and with a 48 million square feet spread. This will be through a glass dome enclosure that will be open up during the winter months, a high season for the city’s retail, leisure and hospitality sectors. On completion, it will be a year-round destination

that is projected to pull in 180 million visitors annually.

“This project complements our plans to transform Dubai into a cultural, tourist and economic hub for the 2 billion people living in the region around us; and we are determined to achieve our vision,” said His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in a statement announcing the launch.

He added: “The growth in family and retail tourism underpins

the need to enhance Dubai’s tourism infrastructure as soon as possible. We are confident of our economy’s strength, optimistic about our country’s future and we continue to broaden our vision.”

The Mall of the World would also host the world’s largest indoor theme park. The new development’s design ethos will be that of a “retail street network” stretching to over seven kilometres. A full-scale ‘Wellness District” would take up three million square feet. 

Dubai International resumes full operations

Concourse D trial operations in August

D

T

ubai Airports has announced that full operations at Dubai International Airport have resumed fully following the reopening of the northern runway.

Flights that had temporarily moved to Al Maktoum International in Dubai World Central (DWC) during the runway upgrades have now returned to Dubai International.

The number of flights has surged by about 31 per cent with the opening of both runways, when compared to the number of flights during the 80-day closure.

Despite the sudden increase in traffic, operations ran smoothly.

The airport now boasts two newly-refurbished runways which allow the airport to accommodate more aircraft while improving operational flexibility during busy peak traffic periods.

The runway upgrades were part of Dubai Airports’ $7.8 billion SP2020 master-plan aimed at expanding Dubai International’s capacity to help accommodate more than 103 million passengers by 2020.

The airlines that have moved flights from DWC back to Dubai International include flydubai, Malaysian Airlines, Royal Brunei and PAL Express as well as selected flights from Qatar Airways and Gulf Air. Four airlines will continue to offer flights from DWC including Wizz Air, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and Jazeera Airways.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “ I am pleased that our planning and preparations over the past year not only ensured that the impact on passengers during the 80-day period was minimal but that we were

able to resume full operations and accommodate increased traffic at the end of the programme without a hitch.”

He said the runway upgrade project tested the mettle of the over 60,000 people who work at Dubai International whose dedication and teamwork resulted in the successful delivery of an incredibly demanding programme, led by Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) and Dubai Airports’ operations, while maintaining high traffic volumes and top-flight service levels.

Additionally it allowed tens of thousands of passengers to experience the speed, convenience and efficiency of DWC, Dubai’s second airport, he added. Dubai Airports owns and manages the operation of Dubai International as well as Al Maktoum International airports. 

he new terminal at Dubai International Airport will open for trials in August, in preparation for its official opening early next year. Concourse D will connect the 1.5km to Terminal 1 through an elevated rail system in less than two minutes, according to airport officials.

Peter Moore, Head of Terminal Development at Dubai Airports, told Emirates 24/7 : “Concourse D is taking shape with the majority of the roof and external glass façade that overlooks the airfield in place and the rail link infrastructure connecting Terminal 1 progressing well. “By August the first boarding gate will be available for training purposes and enable the trial programme to begin in earnest.”

The new terminal will cater to over 100 airlines and increase Dubai International’s capacity to 90mn passengers a year when it opens in the first quarter next year.  August 2014

7

Middle East in Focus

Shariah fund to signal Gulf carrier boom

W

hen Airbus Group’ new Islamic aeroplane-leasing fund gets up and running, it will mark the latest milestone for Shariah-compliant finance in an industry growing at the fastest pace since 2011.

Airbus and Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank will each provide 10 percent of an initial $1 billion in equity for a fund that may grow five-fold in its first two years, according to Dubai-based Quantum Investment Bank, one of the placement agents for the fund.

The vehicle will buy new and used planes and lease them to carriers. Borrowers in the air-transport industry have raised almost $10 billion in Shariah-compliant debt since 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Islamic finance is booming as investors looking for vehicles that adhere to the religion’s ban on interest pour in cash.

Shariah banking assets will double to $3.4 trillion by 2018 from 2013, according to Ernst & Young. The airline industry is fore-

Jazeera Airways secures new $70.5 million debt facility

K

uwait-based Jazeera Airways Group has announced that it has secured a $70.5 million debt facility through Ahli United Bank (AUB) as part of the Group’s ongoing debt restructuring plans.

The financing scheme has a three-year term with a roll-over facility, the aviation firm said in a statement. Jazeera Airways Group chairman Marwan Boodai said: “This facility, which will help us fund our future plans, is significant for both its timing, as it comes at a time when debt markets are favorable, and for being secured through a leading bank that is based in our home market, thus further boosting the value Jazeera Airways Group brings to our market.”

Earlier, Jazeera Airways Group announced that it had secured a $18.3 million aircraft refinancing facility through Arab Banking Corporation (ABC). In April, Jazeera Airways said it is in the final stages of launching a dedicated gates facility at Kuwait International Airport.

The airline said that its investment in Kuwait Airport will lift the airport’s gates capacity by 30 percent and will offer a “better, easier, and more streamlined boarding experience for customers”.

The move comes as the carrier announced that its first quarter net profit fell 41.8 percent to KD2.1 million compared to the same period last year. Revenue at KD13.8 million fell by 6.1 percent. 

8

August 2014

cast to grow 5.9 percent this year, the fastest since 2011, with Middle Eastern carriers expanding 13 percent, according to a report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has become the most important market for widebody planes in the past decade, with Emirates, Qatar Airways Etihad Airways racking up hundreds of purchases as they expand their home bases into leading hubs for intercontinental travel.

The Airbus Leasing Islamic Fund targets raising $5 billion in equity and debt over two years with the first tranche due to close in the third quarter. It will be managed by International Airfinance Corp. and will offer jets to carriers based in Islamic states led by those in the GCC and Southeast Asia.

The Middle East will need about 2,000 new planes through 2032, according to Airbus’s latest global market forecast. Emirates last year made the biggest commercial commitment for planes in history. The carrier ordered 150 planes from Boeing and 50 from Airbus at the Dubai Airshow in November 2013. 

Oman awards $94 million Duqm Airport contract

L

arsen & Toubro (Oman) is reported to have picked up a contract to build a new passenger terminal at Duqm Airport in the Sultanate.

According to the Oman Daily Observer, the deal, representing package three, is valued at RO36.27 million ($94 million).

Larsen & Toubro (Oman) apparently saw off competition from a range of firms including Galfar Engineering & Contracting and Abu Dhabi-based Mohammed Abdel Mohsen al Kharafi.

Times of Oman said the Tender Committee at the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (SEZAD) awarded the third package of Duqm Airport project, which includes the passenger terminal, the 37-metre-high air traffic control (ATC) tower featuring a control building, air cargo building, firefighting building, maintenance and services equipment building and a central services building, which includes the central cooling unit, the generators, the power transformers. 

Middle East in Focus

Royal Jordanian devising 10-year expansion plan

R

oyal Jordanian is preparing a new 10year business plan aimed at restoring profitability through network adjustments and fleet renewal, according to a report published by Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

The carrier has been significantly impacted by the political instability in the region as Egypt, Lebanon, Libya and Syria are among its biggest markets. But the national carrier’s strategy of focusing on connections within the Levant and Gulf regions remains intact.

The new business plan will again focus primarily on regional growth, with replacement and expansion of its single-aisle fleet from 20 to about 30 aircraft. Royal Jordanian is now looking at acquiring A320neos as well as Embraer E-Jet E2s or Bombardier C-Series. Previous plans to expand the wide-body fleet from seven A330-200/A340-200s to 11 787-8s will likely be dropped.

Royal Jordanian is phasing out its A340s in late 2014 as it takes its first five 787s, leading to much needed efficiency improve-

ments, and plans to phase out its A330s in 2016 as a second batch of 787s are delivered.

Royal Jordanian currently operates a fleet of 37 passenger aircraft across a network of about 55 destinations. But the carrier is in the process of once again adjusting its network in response to challenging market conditions.

KSA gets its second woman commercial pilot

Royal Jordanian has dropped five destinations from its scheduled network over the last two months and is planning to identify additional routes for termination over the next few months as its network review continues.

Royal Jordanian hopes to return to profitability by 2016.

Empire Aviation Group acquires new aircraft

Y

asmeen Mohammad Al Mainmani has become the second Saudi Arabian woman to secure a commercial pilot licence.

The 23-year-old national had her flying training in aviation academies in Jordan and the US. In 2010, Yasmeen got a private pilot license from Amman, and returned home in Jeddah. She worked for Rabigh Wings Aviation Academy for a year. Yasmeen got an offer from Aerosim Flight Academy in the US to be their ambassador to the Middle East. She was also offered a scholarship to be trained in the US to obtain an auto commercial pilot licence. She travelled to Florida and continued her education. After completion of her training in June 2013, she returned to Jeddah, where she joined Nexus Company for flight operation services.

Recently, she passed the practical and oral tests of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia and got the commercial pilot license to become the second Saudi woman to obtain what was looked at in the past as unthinkable. Hanadi Zakaria Al Hindi was the first Saudi woman to become a commercial airline pilot. She received all her licenses from abroad, but only got the Saudi one earlier this year. Before 2014, women were not allowed to take the test to receive the license. Meanwhile, she dreams of flying one of the planes of her current employer, Nexus. 

E

mpire Aviation Group (EAG), the Dubai-based private aviation specialists with one of the largest managed fleets of business jets in the Middle East, has added a new aircraft to its fleet based in Africa, where it now manages six business jets.

The latest aircraft - a Challenger 605 model from Bombardier will be based in Lagos, Nigeria and will be the first of EAG’s managed aircraft in Africa to be offered to the charter market. The Challenger 605 is a large jet with 11 seats and with an intercontinental range (4,000 nautical miles) and high speed cruise capabilities (Mach

0.8), offering very high reliability and competitive operating costs.

Steve Hartley, Executive Director at Empire Aviation Group, said: “Africa is a strong emerging business jet market. The new aircraft will help meet the needs of the growing charter market in Africa, and offers a very good balance of capacity, range and overall value.” The company has more than 100 staff and operates one of the region’s largest managed fleets of business jets, with more than 20 aircraft under management, operating out of Dubai International Airport.  August 2014

9

International

Work begins for world’s biggest airport in Istanbul

A

groundbreaking ceremony for Istanbul’s third and the world’s biggest airport has taken place in the remote Arnavutkoy neighborhood in the presence of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

With its 90 million passenger capacity, space for 500 planes and 76-million-meter-square area, the airport will be the largest in the world and the biggest transfer hub in Europe.

Erdogan said: “We are not just building an airport; we are actually building a victory monument.” The first part of the new airport, meant to service 90 million passengers, would be launched on October 29, 2017, marking Turkey’s 94th Republic Day. Istanbul’s two airports were visited by a total of over 70 million passengers in 2013. Turkey’s passenger numbers have increased by 11 million last year.

In 20 years’ time, Istanbul airports’ commercial aircraft traffic will exceed one million aircraft, carrying 118 million passengers per year, according to a forecast by Middle East Technical University. The airport will be connected to the city center through a new highway, the upcoming third bridge on the Bosporus and railway systems.

The Cengiz-Kolin-Limak-Mapa-Kalyon Consortium, a joint venture of Turkish companies, won the tender for the new airport in May 2013, promising to pay the state 22.1 billion euros, plus taxes, to run the airport over a 25-year period starting in 2017.

The airport will also act as a focal point for the Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s flag carrier, which is one of the fastest growing airline com-

Air India joins Star Alliance

A

ir India became the first Indian airline to be admitted to a global airline alliance on July 11 when it officially joined the Star Alliance. The decision to admit Air India into the Star Alliance came by unanimous consensus of the CEOs of existing member airlines during its chief executive board (CEB) meeting held in London in June.

Star Alliance statement said: “Bringing Air India into the equation not only adds more airports but also increases the

10

August 2014

Alliances market share in India to 30 per cent. Globally, passengers will further benefit from a wider choice on routes connecting North America, Europe, Asia and Australia via the Indian Subcontinent.

In total the Star Alliance network grew to 27 member airlines, offering more than 18,500 daily flights serving 1,316 destinations in 192 countries. Star Alliance restarted the re-integration with Air India in December last year. 

panies, currently flying to 208 international destinations.

The new airport will include four separate terminal buildings connected via a rail system, eight control towers, six airfields, 16 taxi roads, a 6.5 million square meter apron, cargo and general aviation terminal, a parking garage with capacity for about 70,000 cars, medical aviation center, hotels and a convention center. 

Global commercial aircraft leasing market to be worth $320 billion by 2018

A

new study published by Lessors Network said global commercial aircraft leasing market in terms of leased asset portfolio value is projected to reach $319 billion by 2018, driven by continued increase in passenger traffic, and rising average price of aircraft.

Purchasing an aircraft is an expensive affair and the long awaiting periods typically associated with their acquisition also makes buying aircraft an unattractive option for airline operators. Also, not all airline companies can afford to fund full expenses of aircraft purchases.

Therefore, airline operators have been eagerly exploring the option of leasing aircraft instead of purchasing the same. Aircraft leasing especially comes as a boon for low-cost carriers with limited capital outlays as the

leasing procurement model allows for easy acquisition of new aircraft without having to incur huge capital investments.

Growth in the coming years will be primarily driven by developing markets such as AsiaPacific, Latin America and Middle East. Growth in AsiaPacific will primarily be driven by booming aviation sector in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, China and India. Europe represents the largest regional market worldwide.

Asia-Pacific is forecast to emerge as the fastest growing with a CAGR of 12.2 per cent over the analysis period. Long Haul and Medium Distance Aircraft represents the largest as well as the fastest growing aircraft type in the market. 

International

GMR wins in Maldives airport cancellation case

I

ndia’s GMR Group, which had to exit the Male airport project, has announced that an international tribunal has declared the Maldivian government and the nation’s airport agency “jointly and severally liable in damages” to the company for loss caused by the wrongful repudiation of the agreement.

GMR Male International Airport Ltd (GMIAL), a unit of GMR Infrastructure, had entered into a concession agreement with the government of Maldives and Maldives Airport Company for modernization and operation of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in 2010.

The concession agreement was valid and binding and was not void and the collection of airport development charges

and insurance surcharge, as allowed in the concession agreement, was lawful under Maldivian law.

In 2012, the Maldives government terminated the $500 million contract with GMIAL, after a regime change following a political crisis in that country that led to the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed. GMR, which also runs airports in Hyderabad, New Delhi and Istanbul, took the Maldives government to a court in Singapore. It said the tribunal has declared Maldives government and Maldives Airport Co. to pay GMIAL $4 million by way of costs within 42 days. It did not disclose the total claim the airport company is seeking form the Maldives government. 

Sydney airport rated Australia’s worst

S

ydney Airport has again achieved the lowest ranking of the country’s four-biggest airports with passengers concerned about kerbside congestion at both its international and domestic terminals.

In its annual report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission warned that the country’s four largest airports – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – will have to invest more if they are to resolve congestion, accom-

modate future passenger growth and improve service levels.

Brisbane was the only airport to improve its quality of service, while Sydney Airport’s overall quality of service was again rated the lowest among the four biggest airports. All four airports also reported higher car parking revenues in the 2012-13 financial year. Sydney Airport has the highest car-parking revenue per space, as well as the highest car-parking margin per car park space, of the country’s four-biggest airports. 

Commercial aircraft MRO market worth $53.4 billion

A

new market research report has suggested that the commercial aircraft Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul (MRO) market grew out of a trend in which airlines performed third party contract repairs following respite periods between in-house jobs.

Given the numbers of aircraft in service today and how critical safety

is, MRO has now evolved to become a major market within aviation. This will continue to be the case but the market will face many new challenges, not least from OEMs who are increasing their market share.

The Visiongain study has determined that the value of the commercial aircraft MRO market in 2014 will reach $53.4 billion. 

Aviation contributing £50 billion to UK economy

T

he UK’s aviation sector is estimated to generate more than GBP50 billion to the UK economy each year with many also playing a key role in local communities, a new report has said.

The Airport Operator Association’s (AOA) latest report said the sector provides more than one million jobs and pays more than GBP8 billion a year in taxes. While each airport offers job opportunities to those living nearby, the report also outlines how airports are getting involved with communities through charity projects and local suppliers. 

China Eastern sets up budget carrier

A

ccording to a Bloomberg report, China Eastern Airlines is setting up its first low-fare carrier in the country, a move that may encourage its two bigger rivals to form similar ventures amid a surge in air travel.

China United Airlines, a subsidiary of the Shanghai-based company, has been converted into a low-fare unit with the aim to make this China’s biggest budget carrier. Budget airlines are starting to come up across China after carriers in North Asia were slower to embrace a low-fare airline phenomenon that has lured travelers across much of South and Southeast Asia.

Bigger competitors China Southern Airlines and Air China may follow China Eastern’s lead and set up their own iterations offering cut-rate fares in the country where growing prosperity and urbanization encourages air travel.

China United now has 26 aircraft, increasing to a fleet of 31 Boeing 737 by the end of the year, according to James Wang, a spokesman for China Eastern. By 2019, when Beijing’s second airport is projected to be operational, the airline will operate out of that and expects to move 23 million passengers annually using a fleet of 80 planes. 

August 2014

11

Opinion

Innovation in airport security systems

By Bob Pollard Executive Project Manager Faithful+Gould

U

S airports screen over a billion bags each year, a complex and highly visible national security activity.

Screening has been at the heart of baggage handling systems since 2001, adding explosives detection systems (EDS) to state-of-the-art technologies that include sorting, conveying, tracking systems,

bag storage and retrieval. Twelve years later, US airports face the challenge of upgrading and implementing new technologies, while reducing their system costs and maintaining the highest security levels.

Upgrades may involve an entirely new facility, the expansion of existing systems, or exploration of maintenance and operation. Design, manufacture, assembly and commissioning of baggage installation are specialist areas that need informed program, project and cost management. We are currently providing this support on some interesting baggage handling commissions.

We are working alongside the International Association of Baggage System Companies (IABSC), a body which provides a unified voice to the aviation industry, bringing standards, education, in-

novation, quality and economic benefits.

Together we are collaborating with a group of baggage handling system designers and suppliers to improve efficiency and safety in airport baggage make-up rooms (post-screening holding area). The current emergency stop design has been in use for over 40 years and we believe there may be a more flexible and cost effective solution, using software rather than hard wiring, and still meeting national and local safety codes.

We aim to reach a consensus on a design suitable for all baggage handling system specifications.

We are also working with the IABSC and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), to update the TSA Planning Guidelines and Design Standards (PGDS).

The guidelines provide a standard requirement for security screen-

ing systems design across the US, shaping the design for baggage handling systems and incorporating an automated in-line screening system for checked baggage.

Updating this standard requires input from the airline/airport operators of existing baggage systems and from the TSA’s technology experts. Our joint recommendations will be presented to the TSA by spring 2014.

The 2002 Aviation and Transportation Security Act required all checked baggage to be electronically screened for explosives. To comply, airports around the country commissioned designers to provide fully automated baggage screening solutions which could be quickly implemented. ď‚ƒ Excerpts from the blogs of Faithful+Gould Project Management Consultancy

A globally harmonized air navigation system

By Eugene Hoeven Director of ICAO Affairs Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO)

F

or air transport to be sustainable, it must simultaneously and continuously contribute to socioeconomic welfare while reducing its adverse effects on society and the environment. However, the main barrier to sustainability is fragmentation based on geography, in approaches to policy and regulation, in service provision and of the air transport value chain. With 191 States responsible for air navigation services provi-

12

August 2014

sion, and our global airspace divided up into hundreds of pieces, air traffic management is utterly fragmented.

This has an impact on safety, efficiency, capacity and environment performance.

To cater for this growth in air transport, we must have efficient infrastructure; a globally harmonized and interoperable air navigation system capable of delivering efficient seamless service. Rising demand without commensurate increases in capacity would adversely impact the safety, efficiency and sustainability of air transport.

Today, airspace congestion and delays are already evident in many parts of the world with potential safety implications.

Aircraft are still flying routes laid down 60 years ago on the basis of ground-based navigation aids, government agreements and communications and surveillance limitations.

The need for change is increasingly recognized and there is a real opportunity to transform global ATM performance.

In the past year, there have been two major developments that give cause for optimism that we can make real progress towards seamless airspace globally and ensure that we can have the right infrastructure in place to support the growth in air transport. First, CANSO launched its Vision 2020 and the second was that States agreed on the Global Air Navigation Plan and its Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBUs) as well as the Global Aviation Safety Plan.

Deliverables to make airspace more efficient and improve capacity include implementation of Collaborative Decision Making (CDM), Air Traffic Flow Management, Performance Based Navigation, using satellites to more accurately track air-

craft positions (ADS-B), optimized flight trajectories that save fuel and flexible wind-adjusted routing that save fuel and time.

Airspace needs to be organized and air navigation services need to be delivered in line with the operational requirement of airspace users rather than according to national borders.

For too long, our industry has suffered under the One State One ANSP model. States can delegate service provision to other States and designate a service provider to provide service coverage for a larger airspace.

This has long been recognized by States in ICAO and it is a responsible and effective use of sovereignty and such cooperative arrangements among States need to be encouraged. ď‚ƒ Excerpts from the speech at the ICAO 2nd Air Transport Symposium, Montreal, Canada

Opinion

Destination Airport: Create the ideal guest experience

By Richard Gammon Director of Aviation and Transportation HOK

I

n today’s hospitality-inspired airport terminal environment, travelers historically referred to as “passengers” and then “customers” are now being treated like “guests.” Airlines and airport operators are easing travel anxiety and luring travelers by providing comfortable, exceptional experiences.

Next-generation airports offer much more than shops, restaurants

and free Wi-Fi. Airports that forgo destination status risk losing out on significant revenue opportunities. A J D Power and Associates Airport Satisfaction Study reported that delighted passengers spend 45 percent more money per airport visit than those who were disappointed.

Airports have historically controlled the terminal processes, leaving customer service to the airlines.

Today’s competitive environment demands collaboration between each entity and careful management of the guests’ entire experience, from the moment they book their flight until they arrive at their destination.

Airports can improve the customer experience in their facilities, concessions, passenger processing and customer services.

A 2013 Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) study highlighted the most competitive factors for airports pursuing the highest level of service quality: speed of guest

movement through the airport, cleanliness and ambiance of the terminal, concourses and gate areas, excellent selection of concessions/services and value for money, positive gate experience and exceptional customer service and courtesy of staff.

Before an airport can be considered a destination with loyal customers, service must transcend the harried, impersonal interactions typical of the traditional airport. Singapore’s Changi Airport, for example, has won top prize in the World Airport Awards four times despite lacking the sheen of newer competitors.

Highly personalized customer service sets it apart.

Airport terminal planners and designers must continue to stay ahead of and provide flexibility to incorporate emerging technologies. As with hotels, technology helps improve the airport experience for guests who can access real-time information and custom-

ize their experiences with service improvements ranging from faster transfer times to the ability to easily find comfortable airport hotels.

To become destinations, airports must align themselves with the community. They need to convey a specific sense of place rather than a generic vibe. Airport leaders and design firms continue to explore new ways to enhance the overall travel experience.

All entities – including the airport, airlines, retail tenants, regulatory agencies and local businesses – must partner to share the data required to create the ideal guest experience.

This new model of collaboration, which requires an unprecedented level of integrated operations, ensures that the end-to-end guest experience positions the airport as a destination in its own right.  Excerpts from a presentation at Passenger Terminal World 2014 Showcase

Growing role of IT in travel business

By Tony Tyler Director General and CEO IATA

A

viation has transformed the globe but we are still a young industry, with plenty of potential.

When airlines invest in IT, it cannot be just for the sake of having the latest, greatest systems. It’s got to be focused on value. That means improving our product to serve our customers better. And of course that is directly linked to business benefits.

We are competing with other modes of transport and an array of lifestyle activities, after all. We must always remember that we fly people and cargo, not planes. So our mindset has to be oriented to view things from the perspective of the customer in all that we do—including how we design, integrate and implement IT systems.

There are some significant opportunities to create a better experience for air travelers through re-engineering the processes and procedures affecting them.

At IATA, we are spending a lot of time focusing on trying to smooth out the end-to-end experience based on globally-agreed upon standards and cooperation with our stakeholder partners.

There are three areas where through working together, guided by global standards, we have opportunities to break more ground to use IT to provide a better passenger experience.

It is no secret that airlines and travelers struggle with the limitations of the pre-internet language that powers most travel agent and online travel agency displays. And remember: travel agents sell about 60 per cent of our tickets by value, so they are an extremely important constituency.

Beyond price and schedule, travel agents are not able to offer product differentiation among airlines, except on a limited and airline-specific basis.

Airline websites, on the other hand, use modern internet-based technology created in XML. This provides much more capability and a faster pace of innovation. That probably helps to explain why twothirds of travelers usually choose to buy their ancillary services (such as seat upgrades, extra baggage allowances and priority check-in) via airline websites, according to our 2013 Global Passenger Survey.

We are working with our partners in the travel value chain on the

New Distribution Capability (NDC).

NDC will update the standard for electronic communications between airlines and travel agents from the pre-Internet standard to XML. Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) are moving in the same general direction with products aimed at supporting distribution of full, rich airline content to travel agents. We have launched seven pilots in the past 12 months. We anticipate further pilots and initial adoption in 2015, leading to full scale deployment in 2016.

Concurrently with NDC, we are modernizing the back-office functions associated with airline ancillary offerings through the IATA e-Services project. This replaces all paper miscellaneous documents with the global IATA Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) standard. Excerpts from the speech at the Air Transport IT Summit, Brussels

August 2014

13

In Focus

Supersonic dream The dream of flying faster than the speed of sound lives on. Three barriers - sonic boom, high altitude emissions and airport noise – are key barriers to civil supersonic flight. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have been working with NASA since 2010 on ways to muffle the sonic boom, the bane of supersonic flight. There’s a potential market for more than 600 supersonic business jets, with a price tag in the range of 180$ million and 300$ million, during the next 20 years.

A

sleek, needle-nosed jetliner carrying 300 passengers taxis out of Los Angeles International Airport, rolls to a hushed takeoff over the Pacific Ocean, then accelerates like no commercial plane in history -reaching 2.4 times the speed of sound nearly 19 kilometers above the earth. The titanium airplane with a cockpit that looks like a video arcade pulls into Tokyo in just over four hours, cutting six hours off the normal trip.

Getting to Asia from Los Angeles is no more of a hassle than a hop to Chicago.

Jet-lagged international travelers have been anticipating such an airplane for more than 20 years, since the US Congress halted development of a first-generation supersonic jetliner and Europe produced the rival Concorde - an economic flop.

There have been two supersonic airliners, the Russian Tu-144, and the well-known Concorde flown by the UK and France. The original Concorde concept dates back to 1959, when the plans were made to create the aircraft, which first flew ten years later.

The Concorde was retired, and the remaining aircraft sent to museums three years after a July 2000 crash that killed all 100 people on board and four on the ground.

Since the last commercial supersonic flight 11 years ago, the world has accelerated in every respect but one: instead of increasing speed, airlines have focused on driving down costs by commissioning ever-bigger planes crammed with ever more people. In 2003, for example, a Boeing 747-400 configured for three classes could carry 416 passengers; today’s Airbus A380 can accommodate 525.

The dream of flying faster

14 14

August August 2014 2014

than the speed of sound has never died. A handful of companies have doggedly pursued the creation of a supersonic business jet. There’s a potential market for more than 600 supersonic business jets during the next 20 years, according to a study by Plano, Texas–based research firm, Rolland Vincent Associates. Buyers lined up when Gulfstream last year launched the fastest private jet on the market - the $65 million G650, which can achieve an almost-supersonic speed of Mach 0.925. Even if you order the pricey plane today, the earliest you could take delivery is 2017.

But before the industry can satisfy the pent-up demand for supersonic flight, it must first grapple with the resulting sonic boom. When an aircraft flies faster than the speed of sound - Mach 1, or about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) per hour, depending on conditions - it creates a continuous shock wave that mimics a close-by clap of thunder. For this reason, the US and several other countries banned supersonic flights over land. In order to overcome these limits, Boeing and Lockheed Martin have been working with NASA since 2010 on ways to muffle the sonic boom.

While aerospace engineers have made significant progress in their understanding of supersonic flight, one significant challenge remains: the loud sonic boom.

“There are three barriers particular to civil supersonic flight; sonic boom, high altitude emissions and airport noise. Of the three, boom is the most significant problem,” remarked Peter Coen, manager of High Speed Project with the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s Fundamental Aeronautics

Program.

The level of concern over sonic boom annoyance became so significant that the Federal Avia-t i o n Administration (FAA) prohibited domestic civil supersonic flight over land in 1973. This prohibition helped quiet the skies and reduce potential impacts on the environment. However, it also dashed hopes of introducing supersonic overland passenger service within US airspace during the Concorde era.

For the first time, the archrivals of the commercial aircraft industry will be partners under NASA’s direction: Boeing and McDonnell Douglas for the jet’s airframe and General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the engines. By pooling America’s best talents, NASA hopes to make the major breakthroughs needed to make a supersonic jetliner economically viable. Even if high sales volume defrayed the investment expense of $15 billion, the planes would cost between $180 million and $300 million each. A Boeing 747 today costs roughly $150 million.

Overcoming this sonic boom prohibition has kept engineers busy at the four NASA centers that conduct aeronautics research in California, Ohio and Virginia.

Since the maximum acceptable loudness of a sonic boom is not specifically defined under the

current FAA regulation, NASA and its aviation partners have been researching ways to identify a loudness level that is acceptable to both the FAA and the public, and to reduce the noise created by supersonic aircraft.

Using cutting-edge testing that builds on previous supersonic research; NASA has been exploring “low-boom” aircraft designs, and other strategies that show promise for reducing sonic boom levels.

Previous research by NASA, the military and the aircraft industry has determined that a variety of factors, from the shape and position of aircraft components to the propulsion system’s characteristics, determine the makeup of a supersonic aircraft’s sonic boom.

Therefore, engineers are able to tune or “shape” a boom signature through design to minimize the loudness of the boom it produces in flight. The most recent possible supersonic aircraft designs reflect what’s needed to meet NASA’s low-boom requirements.

These requirements specify targets for boom loudness, aerodynamic efficiency, and airport noise for an N+2 —second generation beyond current technology — aircraft design that could be flying by

In Focus

the years 2020 through 2025.

Similar to designs of the past, the current concepts are characterized by a needle-like nose, a sleek fuselage and a delta wing or highly-swept wings. It’s the details of how those designs are shaped that result in the reduced sonic boom.

One design, proposed by Lockheed Martin, mounts two engines under the wing in a traditional configuration with one additional centerline engine above the wing.

The other industry partner currently working with the NASA High Speed Project, The Boeing Company, proposes two topmounted engines in a departure from historical aircraft design.

“Engine installation is a critical part of achieving an overall low boom design,” said Coen. “If we mount the engines in a conventional manner, we need to carefully tailor the shape of the wing to diffuse the shock waves. If we mount the engines above the

wing, the shock wave can be directed upward and not affect the ground signature. However, such installations may have performance penalties.”

NASA’s focus on supersonic research testing began in November 2010 as part of the project’s Experimental Systems Validations for N+2 Supersonic Commercial Transport Aircraft effort.

Its goal was to capture boomrelevant data from supersonic scale models built by Boeing and Lockheed. In preparation for this research, industry engineers first designed full-sized aircraft on their computers, and then scaled down the designs to build wind tunnel models that exhibit the same flight characteristics during testing as do their full-size counterparts in actual flight.

The scale models were then sent to NASA wind tunnel facilities at the Ames and Glenn research centers. Once delivered to NASA, the project’s engineers focused on obtaining data from two distinct aspects of supersonic design—the measurement of the sonic boom pressure signature at various distances around the aircraft, and the measurement of engine inlet performance for the top-mounted engines. The data from NASA’s wind tunnels are being used to validate the computer-based design tools for continued use in future low-boom aircraft design research.

The series of wind tunnel tests focused on the boom signature measurements and development of test techniques. Both companies then refined their designs for better boom characteristics and improved aerodynamic performance. Tests continued at Ames and Glenn on the Phase II designs through 2012 and 2013, focusing on the engine nacelle integration with the overall vehicle. Nacelles are the parts of the

aircraft that house the engines, and are usually mounted directly on the wings or fuselage of an airplane or on pylons attached to the aircraft.

One of these Phase II tests was a propulsion integration test at Glenn’s 8- by 6-Foot supersonic wind tunnel, conducted in March 2013. This test of a 43-inch long, 1.79-percent scale model built

by Boeing focused on capturing performance data from the engine air inlets—the components through which air enters the aircraft engines.

NASA tested this model both with the inlets integrated on the overall aircraft, mounted above the wings, as well as with one of the inlets by itself, measuring the inlet air flow and pressure recovery (the pressure level at the engine face after losses from the flow turning and shock waves in the inlet) each time. The measurements in the inlet were captured by a series of pressure and temperature probes deep inside the inlet, where the first set of blades for the engine would be.

A remotely-controlled massflow plug assembly (a movable cone that varied the size of the nacelle exit area) was fitted behind the inlet, which gave engineers the capability to vary the rate of air flow through the inlet to capture data throughout the duration of the scale model’s test “flight” in the tunnel.

Over the coming months, NASA engineers will pore through the test data with industry partners, in preparation for future research and additional testing, which will also involve NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. In the near term, the attention will be on how shock waves in the engine exhaust flow impact the overall boom signature.

As additional boom research discoveries are made, NASA will add these findings to the growing repository of supersonic data that’s available to the civil aviation community to help foster further innovation.

Trickier than the fuel dilemma is the problem posed by the sonic

boom. When an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound (768 mph), it pushes air molecules aside with enough force to create a shock wave, resulting in a thunder-like boom. Even when it is generated thousands of feet above the ground, that boom is very loud.

To bring back supersonic flight, aircraft designers have to find a way to eliminate the boom, or quiet it enough to make it acceptable. One proposal by Lockheed Martin includes the installation of an inverted-V on the airplane’s tail, which the corporation believes could limit the level of sonic booms.

The idea of travelling faster than the speed of sound remains alluring, there are several projects trying to create the next generation of supersonic planes.

There’s another way to eliminate the boom: leave the atmosphere altogether. XCOR Aerospace believes the future of high speed travel is in outer space. XCOR is pioneering the idea of point-topoint space travel, starting with the Lynx, a suborbital commercial spacecraft that will take off and land like a conventional plane, but cruise at Mach 3.5 . It will make for an incredibly quick trip: New York to Tokyo in 90 minutes.

The Nevada-based company Aerion Corporation has submitted plans for the development of a private jet that could reach speeds of Mach 1.6, potentially carrying its first passengers by the end of the decade. HyperMach Aerospace has proposed the development of SonicStar, a jet the company claims would reach Mach 4 and approximately twice the speed of Concorde) and could speed from London to Sydney in an afternoon or from New York to London in about an hour. The firm estimates it could enter production in the 2020s.

JAXA, the Japanese equivalent of NASA, conservatively bets economical and environmentally-friendly supersonic travel will be available “in the 21st century.”  August August 2014 2014

15 15

Cargo & Logistics

Dubai Trade launches online cargo insurance platform

D

ubai Trade, the leading facilitator of cross-border trade under Dubai World, and Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC) have announced the launch of Tradeshield online cargo insurance facility.

Dubai Trade CEO, Mahmood Al Bastaki, said: “We are committed to realizing the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for a Smart government and ‘Smart Dubai’. Tradeshield is a platform that fits the strategic direction, meeting the needs of the trade and logistics commu-

F nity with an easy to complete and efficient way of insuring their shipments.”

Tradeshield is a platform offering direct integration to marine and cargo insurance. Quotations can be obtained within a few minutes on the website where customers can compare policies, rates and terms before choosing the desired policy. They complete the end-to-end process of purchasing insurance online including payments using Rosoom. 

US supply chain on path of slow growth

T

he US businesses spent approximately $1.39 trillion dollars on logistics in 2013, which is a 2.3 percent increase compared with the previous year, according to 25th Annual State of Logistics Report released by The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) in Washington DC. The report said logistics as a percent of US gross domestics product (GDP) declined for a second year in a row, indicating that the sector may not be keeping pace with overall pace of growth in the economy despite its gradual resurgence.

16

August 2014

FedEx Express launches SenseAware in UAE

Rosalyn Wilson, author of the report, said: “This will the best year we have experienced in the last eight years. The first five months of 2014 have been the strongest since the end of the Great Recession.”

The report said the biggest issue affecting the industry today is the truck driver shortage, while the freight shipments continue to rise. Between January and May 2014, the transportation industry saw a 13 percent increase in freight. It said the air cargo sector made no gains in 2013 as both domestic and international sectors remained unchanged from the prior year. 

edEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company, has launched its award-winning service, SenseAware, in the UAE, the first country in the Middle East to implement the innovative near real-time solution for businesses shipping time-sensitive and high-value products.

SenseAware combines an online application with a multisensor device to provide customers with live tracking, visibility and insight directly from their packages. In addition to location monitoring, SenseAware can also monitor temperature,

light exposure, humidity levels, shock and barometric pressure.

Customers will receive regular alerts informing them of the current status of their shipment and possible concerns, such as the package approaching its temperature limit or if it has been opened and exposed to the external environment. This gives customers the opportunity to intervene and control their shipment before reaching its final destination. Customers will also benefit from a documented audit trail for regulatory processes, as well as the quick customs clearance. 

CEVA Logistics opens regional HQ in DWC C EVA Logistics, one of the world’s leading non-asset based supply chain management companies, has opened its regional headquarters and freight management office in Dubai World Central’s (DWC) Business Park.

The new office aims to strengthen its GCC operations and support expansion by leveraging DWC’s location and facilities across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia (MENACA) region.

As a key component of DWC, the Business Park offers a fully integrated business environment over and above its state-of-theart amenities and infrastructure.

More than 500 companies are currently operating at the Busi-

ness Park. Moreover, the number of companies setting up offices is increasing by 10 to 20 per cent monthly.

CEVA will immensely benefit from its strategic location at the heart of the official site of the World Expo 2020.

Paolo Serra, Director of Business Park at DWC, said: “The moving of CEVA to DWC once again demonstrates its significant role in offering global corporations with infinite possibilities and unmatched facilities to explore the regional market and strengthen their presence. We welcome CEVA Logistics on board and look forward to serve more such key players who share a common vision of long-term growth and success.” 

Cargo & Logistics

Cyber-criminals exploit IT to get at containers

C

yber-criminals are preying on shipping container codes and passwords to discover delivery instructions, an international freight insurance specialist has warned. And the very technology used to make transport and logistics efficient was helping them. Mike Yarwood said carriers, ports, terminals and other transport operators were the increasing focus of computer hacking, with data and information used to focus

on high value cargo and susceptible loads.

“We see incidents which at first appear to be a petty break-in at office facilities. The damage appears minimal – nothing is physically removed,” Yarwood remarked in a presentation at TOC Europe’s Container Supply Chain Conference in London. “More thorough post incident investigations however reveal that the ‘thieves’ were actually installing spyware within the operator’s IT network.” 

Common targets are individuals’ personal devices where cyber security is less adequate.

Hackers often make use of social networks to target operational personnel who travel extensively and truck drivers to

ascertain routing and overnight parking patterns. The type of information being sought and extracted may be release codes for containers from terminal facilities or passwords to discover delivery instructions. 

Cargo theft gets more sophisticated

T

he Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) has launched what it calls the most comprehensive supply-chain security standards in its 17-year history to combat increasingly sophisticated thefts.

TAPA says cargo crime is no longer petty, opportunist theft carried out by individuals. Today, it is coordinated by organized international gangs whose attacks often involve violent and armed hijackings of vehicles, facilities and employees as well as fraudulent pick-ups, fake police stops, bogus personnel, slashing open trailer curtains and attacks on moving vehicles.

TAPA analysis revealed that losses suffered by its members are three times lower than the industry average, although that leaves absolutely no room for complacency. The cost of a single loss can be between 4-11 times its original value.

Cargo crime figures for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for 2013 showed a 66 percent increase in the number of incidents reported to TAPA’s Incident Information Service, with an average loss figure for the 1,145 recorded crimes of $317,957. The loss value of the 10 biggest cargo crimes in the region in 2013 was over $74.4 million.

In the first quarter of 2014, a total of 216 cargo crime incidents were reported in EMEA. The average loss figure for the first quarter of 2014 for all recorded incidents was over $284,132. TAPA recorded 215 cargo theft incidents throughout Asia in 2013, a slight drop from the 2012 record high of 228. Of the 215 cargo thefts, 49 percent were hijackings, while 20 percent were thefts of loads from trailers. Violent truck hijacks accounted for 51 percent of Asia’s total cargo crime incidents in 2013. 

Emirates SkyCargo strengthens Scandinavian routes

E

mirates SkyCargo is set to start of operations to Oslo beginning September 2. The start of a daily service to Oslo, with an Emirates Boeing 777300 ER, will provide a total of 322 tonnes of belly hold cargo capacity per week and create new trade and business opportunities between Europe’s largest oil producer and markets around Emirates SkyCargo’s network.

Oslo will become Emirates SkyCargo’s third gateway in Scandinavia after daily passenger and cargo services were introduced to Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 2011 and Stockholm in September 2013. Emirates SkyCargo first started cargo operations to serve Scandinavia in 2003 with freighter flights to Gothenburg, Sweden, when Emirates had no passenger

flights to the region. Emirates SkyCargo also operates six weekly freighter flights to Copenhagen, which will increase to eight when the two Gothenburg freighter flights are consolidated.

Robert Siegel, Emirates vice president commercial operations cargo, Europe and the Americas, said: “With eight freighter flights a week to Copenhagen, coupled with the belly-hold capacity of an all Boeing 777 operation into Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, we will offer more than 2,500 tonnes of cargo capacity, enabling new trade opportunities for importers and exporters across the region and across our worldwide network.”  August 2014

17

Technology

SITA to roll out new airport passenger location technology

S

ITA is set to roll out mobile phone friendly beacons at ten airports across the world, including the Middle East, over the next 12 months.

The aviation IT provider has begun using new technologies such as Apple’s iBeacon to provide real-time information on mobile devices to help passengers move seamlessly across airports to board flights on time.

A six-month pilot programme at Dallas/Fort Worth will use 100 iBeacons– the largest ever deployment and a precursor to a permanent implementation in eight hubs.

The Apple-supported iBeacons on airport walls measure about one inch in diameter and carry a range of 2 meters to 100 meters.

The iBeacons use Bluetooth low energy and geofencing to trigger the display of location-relevant information on passengers’ devices.

Already, American Airlines has begun talks with One World partners British Airways and Japan Airlines for sharing the beacon registry. SITA has also completed trials using Google Glass and smart watch for Virgin Atlantic staff handling premium customers at airports. SITA is in talks with “major hubs in Europe, US, Asia and the Middle East,” said Kevin O’Sullivan, Lead Engineer at SITA Lab, an innovation division.

The beacons use Bluetooth low energy technology (BlE) that transmit signals that can be received by iPhone IOS 7 and later software and newer Android models.

Passengers will be able to download airline specific mobile applications that connect with the beacons.

The application will provide passengers with directions, walk times to gates, lounge access and boarding alerts by using the beacon signals to locate where the passenger is in the airport. It is unlikely there will be an airline beacon app, rather the feature will be tied into a passengers existing airline application that they use to track membership points, flight details and to make bookings.

SITA systems are used at more than 525 airports globally, ideally positioning the company to work with its airline and airport customers to more effectively roll out this new technology. The SITA Common-use Beacon Registry defines standard data sets and beacon types to be positioned at gates, retail areas or checkpoints. This will allow airlines and airports to share beacons to get location information and provide personalized services to passengers. 

Aviation cyber security market worth $1.73 billion

A market research study has warned that airports and airlines will become increasingly vulnerable from cyber-attacks due to the increasing reliance on expanding IT network systems.

As a result, the aviation industry will see the adoption of numerous measures, including new legislation, better co-ordination between government and industry bodies, substantial investment and the allocation of resources to ensure that the threat posed by evolving cyber threats is kept to an absolute minimum.

The Visiongain study has assessed that the value of the global aviation cyber security market will reach $1.73 billion in 2014.

The report said the threat of an aviation industry cyber-attack is very real. The majority of attacks have been carried out with criminal intent often through the use of malicious software via social media or personal email.

Fortunately, however, there has not been any large scale attack that has significantly impacted on the functionality of airports or on airlines.

3D printers used to make aeroplanes

C

omponents designed by computer and produced on a 3D printer are becoming more commonplace. The aviation industry is leading the way. At the Airbus facilities in Hamburg, 3D laser printers are being used to print out metal parts for a whole range of Airbus aircraft that are lighter, stronger and substantially cheaper. Several hundred of these parts fit onto the Airbus A350 XWB and, thanks to 3D printing, they took 70 percent less time to make, while the manufacturing cost plunged by 80 percent.

18

August 2014

Peter Sander, Manager of Emerging Technologies and Concepts at Airbus outlined some of the benefits of 3D printing, thus: “This is a very interesting part because, normally, this is part of a fuel system – it is two pipes in one – and it’s normally welded out of ten parts.”

“So, with 3D printing we have the chance to integrate the bracket of the pipe – two pipes in one – and print it in one shot. So, in this case we have weight reduction, but, of course, the most interesting thing is that we have a cost reduction down to 30 percent,” he added.

3D printing consists of producing a three-dimensional object from a digital file, which has been created by specialized engineers. Then 3D printers transform the files into real mechanical parts, using powder from plastic and different metals including titanium and steel.

The first commercial flights using 3D-printed metal parts are expected to be in operation by 2016, with mass production by 2018. Some 30 tonnes of metallic parts are expected to be printed each month, according to Euronews. 

Technology

Aviation biofuel takes flight

A

fter years of research, biofuels in the aviation industry are almost ready for takeoff. The requirements to replace jet fuel at 40,000 feet present a challenge, but airplane manufacturers such as Boeing have set goals for sustainable air travel by the end of the decade.

The global aviation industry uses 60 billion gallons of fuel a year. It takes about 40,000 gallons of fuel to fill up one 747.

There are special considerations for aviation biofuels. Small piston-engine planes burn gasoline. Large commercial airliners burn jet fuel. But, it’s a matter of figuring out whether new fuels will survive the altitude. As you go up, the temperature goes down drastically — to about 80 degrees below 0. Technology to enable ethanol use in planes is still about three to five years out.

Several commercial test flights are running blends of biofuel and jet fuel.

In the Midwest, Boeing is working with the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative on research. Algae is another option.

In the Pacific Northwest, leftover wood pulp works well. In China, the company is working on turning waste cooking oil into jet fuel. In the UAE, research is underway looking at desert plants called halophytes, which look like tumbleweeds, that grow in sandy soil and can be irrigated with saltwater.

Sweden’s first commercial biofuels-powered flight has been recently operated by British Midland International (BMI) between Karlstad and Frankfurt and by Nextjet between Karlstad and Stockholm. Opened on the 26 June, Karlstad Airport has become the first airport in Europe to install a fixed storage tank facility for aviation biofuel. From early 2015, all aircraft departing from Karlstad Airport can be filled with the eco-friendly fuel.

Amyris and Total have begun to prepare to market a drop-in jet fuel that contains up to 10 percent blends of renewable farnesane.

Developed by Total and Amyris, this new jet fuel blend meets the rigorous performance requirements set for Jet A/A-1 fuel used by the global commercial aviation industry. The revised standard developed by ASTM Committee on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants, now includes the use of

renewable farnesane as a blending component in jet fuels for commercial aviation.

As part of their ongoing collaboration since 2011, Amyris and Total have also worked to ensure that the fuel be produced sustainably. Earlier this year, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials certified Amyris’ first farnesene production facility in Brazil. 

World’s first handheld backscatter imaging system launched

Indian airports to acquire ATC radios

T

N

he American Science and Engineering (AS&E), a leading worldwide supplier of innovative X-ray detection solutions, has introduced the MINI Z, the world’s first handheld Z Backscatter imaging scanner for fast, portable, real-time detection of hidden organic threats, such as drugs, contraband, plastic guns, ceramic knives, and explosives.

Designed for law enforcement, first responders, border control, event security, maritime police, and general aviation security, the MINI Z system’s single-sided imaging and compact size offers unsurpassed operational flex-

ibility -- scanning effectively “on the go” in the hardest-toreach environments.

Chuck Dougherty, AS&E President and CEO, said: “We have taken the technology behind the success of the ZBV system and miniaturized it -making it more affordable and accessible to a broader range

of customers. The MINI Z system is a game-changer for law enforcement and border security officials who are constantly challenged to quickly and accurately detect potential threats in hard-to-reach environments as they work to ensure the highest level of public safety.” 

orthrop Grumman Corporation’s UK-based air traffic management systems subsidiary, Park Air Systems, has won a contract with Airports Authority of India (AAI) to deliver ground-to-air communications across the country utilizing the latest Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications technology.

Under the contract, the company will supply more than 500 pairs of air traffic control (ATC) transmitters and receivers that will be integrated into the AAI IP network. The system will comprise the Park Air T6 transmitter and receiver radios, the Park Air S4 remote control units, filters, multicouplers and antennas.  August 2014

19