Qatar- IATA call to address air traffic congestion facing GCC airlines

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

By Mohammad Shoeb

GENEVA: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) the trade association of the world’s 250 airlines has called for the GCC countries to do more to address the air traffic congestion (ATC) problem faced by the major carriers of the region.

The IATA member airlines primarily major carriers carry approximately 84 percent of total Available Seat Kilometres air traffic. It supports airline activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards.

“Air traffic congestion in the GCC region is a huge problem operationally. There is a loud argument going on but this same argument is going on for years. Governments need to do more” Tony Tyler Director General and CEO of IATA said on the sidelines of the ‘Global Media Day’ held at IATA’s Executive Office in Geneva recently.

Tyler speaking at the ‘Middle East roundtable meeting’ on Friday said: “Some airlines and countries want to go faster than others but it’s always been like that… It’s a problem of growth and success and IATA has no view on that… Difficulties are political and administrative not technical. It’s the governments to decide.” He noted that the organisation of air traffic management in the region has not kept pace with the growth in the air traffic.

“In fact it has been made more difficult because what used to be a single air traffic control system in the region has been fragmented into six different ones. And it needs to be integrated into a single system once again” he said. Experts suggest that given the rapid growth of three major Gulf carriers a single air traffic management system in the region akin to Europe’s ‘Eurocontrol’ has become inevitable to mitigate risks due to increasing congestion in the airspace.

Airspace dubbed as “invisible infrastructure” for the aviation industry is very important factor for the growth of airlines. Usually it is a state property controlled by defence departments of governments leaving limited corridors for civil aircraft to fly. For instance up to 50 percent of airspace in some GCC countries is controlled by their respective defence departments.

In this regard Tyler said that governments need to create and support a vision of “seamless air traffic management” otherwise all the beautiful airports with massive capacity and fleet size will suffer due to operational constraints such as ATC. However he said that currently it is not an impediment for the growth of GCC carriers but a big operational problem causing delays.

“Delays are growing. The point is the GCC carriers are big because they have a lot of connecting flights. For instance even if one aircraft is on hold for 10 minutes in the air that might be the cause of another 10 outbound flights on the ground waiting for transit passengers which may cause other problems” he said.

On the issue of security at airports he said that security arrangements should be “less obstructive and more balanced”. “It should be risk-based to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.”

About the impact of oil prices on the aviation industry he said that there are different aspects to consider. “Lower fuel prices reduce the operational cost of airlines which is good. If you look at it globally it’s a big tax cut for the people… People have more money in their pockets and find it easier and cheaper to travel. But on the other hand countries dependent on oil revenues will have lesser money to invest on infrastructure” added Tyler.

The Peninsula