25 Jul 2012 , Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
The Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS), the training arm of Abu Dhabi Airports Company has concluded the first training program held in the Middle East region on Performance Based Operations in the Air Traffic Industry.

The program comprised of two courses held by senior aviation experts from AVTECH Middle East and was attended by a number of key senior stakeholders and operational managers from the UAE Air Traffic sector.
The first course held on the 22nd of May focused on the topic of Increasing Airspace Capacity & Efficiency which covered Performance Based Operations elements and what effect they can have on capacity, throughput, predictability, efficiency, and safety in the short, medium, and long term. The course also focused on creating an understanding of the principles and requirements decision makers should be familiar with.

 
The second course was a two days course held on the 23rd and 24th of May and covered Operational Possibilities and Practical Handling of Required Navigation Performance (RNP). The course covered a number of concepts such as Continuous Descent Approaches (“Green Approaches”) which has discussed the means by which organizations in the Air Traffic industry can deploy to increase efficiency in terms of savings in time, fuel, and overall improvement in capacity management.

Khalid Al Breiki, Deputy General Manager of GCAS commented: “The Middle East and the UAE in particular continue to lead the growth of the region’s aviation industry and while airports and airlines are expanding rapidly there are still plenty of opportunities to optimize and ensure efficiency in all aspects of operations. As GCAS strives to become the leading aviation training centre in the region, it is carefully looking into areas that require developing to ultimately aid in enhancing the region’s industry.”

Both the courses touched on the SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) concept of time based operations, maturity and implementation schedule, and the advantages that SESAR could bring to the UAE.