Dubai Airports gets approval for upgraded landing system

The new system at Dubai International allows aircraft operations in visibility conditions below 200 metres down to 50 metres, a first for any airport in the Middle East.

Describing the approval of the new system as a major achievement for Dubai International, Neil Windeatt, Vice President - Airside Operations, Dubai Airports said that disruption of aircraft operations at an airport that connects over 200 destinations across six continents through more than 120 international airlines, has huge implications for passengers, airlines, Dubai Airports as well as other airports in the region and beyond.

"Although flight disruptions are few and far in between at Dubai International, they happen almost always due to low visibility conditions during the fog-prone months of the year. With CatIIIA approval earlier last year, Dubai International had gained the capability to operate flights even at a visibility of 200 metres; this recent upgrade enables operations visibility conditions down to 50 metres, and will certainly go a long way in helping us deliver quality customer service consistently," he said.

The new category of landing system is the culmination of a phased project that began in the latter part of 2007. "The first phase was completed with the approval of CatIIIA in March 2008. The upgrade to CatIIIB took over a year to implement as it required the airport to design and install a new taxiway lighting system so the air traffic control can effectively control aircraft even in very low visibility. The project also involved the design and installation of special lighting system on the aircraft stands to protect aircraft moving on to and off the parking stands," he explained.

Dubai Airports and all the stakeholders involved in the project had to develop and document completely revised procedures for operating in very low visibility conditions for their respective areas such as procedures for driver training, apron management services, ATC, airport safety and crisis management, and airside operations.

Windeatt added, "We now have a considerably improved bad-weather capacity which will drastically reduce the number of delays and diversions to aircraft that arrive at Dubai in periods of bad weather. This puts Dubai International in the same bracket as some of the biggest, busiest and leading airports of the world."