THE Arab aviation community pledged to support its Yemeni colleagues following the discovery of explosive devices on two aircraft.
The announcement was made during the Doha Aviation Summit by Abdul Aziz Al Noaimi, chairman of the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority on behalf of the Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC) whose chairman Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi also attended the event.
“As far as our brothers in Yemen are concerned,” said Al Noaimi, “although we have great trust in their procedures, we are ready to offer them our help and cooperation in case they need it in facing their war against terrorism.”
Events elsewhere in the world – the explosive devices, believed to have originated in Yemen, were safely removed from aircraft in Dubai and East Midlands Airport, England – added to an already-packed agenda at the summit, organised by naseba, which brought together aviation leaders from the Middle East and world-wide for two days addressing issues impacting the industry.
The summit was hosted by Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar.
Al Suwaidi who, in addition to currently chairing ACAC is director general of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, said the discovery of an explosive device on the aircraft at Dubai was the result of good intelligence.
“A key element for such things is to have a good exchange of information to stop any attempt at penetrating the system of aviation,” he said. “We are now in continuous mode for the exchange of information at the highest level.”
Al Noaimi and Al Suwaidi were joined by other leading figures from civil aviation authorities in the Arab world, including Mohamed Abdul Kader, Yemen’s deputy chairman of civil aviation.
Earlier Al Noaimi had given the keynote speech to 200 delegates from 35 countries. “Our industry is facing challenging times ahead. Tough decisions must be made and strong leadership is essential. The Doha Aviation Summit is a collaborative effort between all parties in aviation to find solutions to the challenges we all face and determine the future for our industry,” he said. “The aim is to bring to the table a uniform vision and strategy to enable prosperity and growth.”
Speaking during the first day, Jonathan Moor, director general for civil aviation in the UK Department of Transport, said: “We must not let up on the process of liberalisation. We need to open up markets and we must continue to address issues about airline ownership and market access.”
There was an enthusiastic reception for BBC World News presenter Aaron Heslehurst who called the aviation ‘one of the most important industries in the history of humanity’. But he warned that the industry often failed to get its message across to governments.
Also on the agenda was a call for airlines, regulators and politicians to work together to avoid an airspace ‘capacity crunch’ in the Middle East with more than 400 new aircraft due to be delivered to Gulf-based airlines alone in the coming years, putting added pressure on already-busy airspace in the region.
Qatar Airways is one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines operating from the Gulf and airline executives have, for some time, identified airspace congestion as a critical issue to be addressed in order for planned expansion to continue.
The company’s outspoken CEO, Akbar Al Baker, also used the summit to take global governments to task for implementing charges such as Europe’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) saying airlines serve as ‘cash cows’ to compensate for governmental inefficiency.
Al Baker called for industry collaboration to stop ‘unnecessary charges’ and urged the International Air Transport Association and The International Civil Aviation Organisation to work collectively in the interests of airlines.