100% localization of leadership at Zayed Aviation

The Assistant Director General of the Air Navigation Services Sector at the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Ahmed Al-Jallaf, stated that “the Authority has succeeded in completely localizing the first, second and third leadership levels at the Sheikh Zayed Air Navigation Center, bringing the percentage of localization in the administrative side of the entire center to 100%.” Despite the difficulties and challenges of nationalization in this field,” he pointed out that this field is specialized and technical, and has many difficulties in the field of training.

He explained in his response to a question from “Emirates Today”, on the sidelines of the second meeting of the Civil Aviation Media Network at the Sheikh Zayed Air Navigation Centre, that “the rate of localization of operations in air traffic control is high, and our goal is to localize operations completely in air traffic control in the near future.”

Al-Jallaf revealed that “the authority is currently working on studying the use of artificial intelligence techniques to support air traffic controllers through the use of a smart assistant supported by artificial intelligence, which helps the air traffic controller by identifying some future challenges that may face operations in the coming minutes, and proposes some solutions to the air traffic controller in detail.” “It helps in accurately determining the speeds and directions of aircraft during take-offs, landings, etc.,” he said, noting that this greatly helps airlines, and also works to predict air traffic safety incidents and work to avoid them.

He pointed out that the “system” will undergo many tests and will undergo extensive auditing after its completion before being implemented in the country.

Al-Jallaf added that the average daily air traffic reached, last November, 2,940 daily air movements, which is the highest daily air traffic rate in the history of the Emirates. Also, on some days of the same month, air traffic reached 3,000 daily air movements.

He noted that “the UAE witnessed a significant growth in air traffic, reaching a rate of 10% during the current year 2024, and the country also witnessed a significant growth in air traffic in recent years, which made it a pioneer in recovering from the effects of the (Covid-19) pandemic,” expecting the continuation of Growth in air traffic in the coming years.

He explained that the increase in air traffic made the UAE need to launch a new phase of the airspace restructuring project during the next year, in the context of ensuring the continuous availability of air navigation services, providing them to operators with high efficiency, and ensuring the continued reduction of delay rates for airlines. And raising the level of air traffic safety.

Al-Jallaf stressed that the Authority is implementing many projects, such as: the strategic plan for air traffic management, the next generation air traffic control system project, and the restructuring of the airspace, within the framework of its full commitment to maintaining leadership in the field of global civil aviation, by focusing on Innovation, safety and sustainability, which supports the country’s position in creating the future of air navigation.

. Air traffic reached 2,940 movements per day on average during November.