Dubai Air Navigation Services (DANS) has announced its decision to apply to join the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) whose Members support 85 per cent of global air traffic.

DANS utilized CANSOs Operations Standing Committee Conference taking place in Dubai to make the formal announcement about joining the organization, which is the global voice of air traffic management. The fulltime annual membership of the regions leading independently-managed ANSP will be effective from January 2015.

His Excellency Mohammed Abdulla Ahli, Director General of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and CEO of DANS, stated: DANS will benefit immensely from CANSOs vast network of Members and the membership will provide us with the opportunity of benchmarking best practices in crucial domains such as operations and safety. CANSO will be able to have a further profound role in the regions ATM industry through DANS, and its various initiatives to deliver seamless airspace management.

Announcing the decision, Ibrahim Ahli, Senior Vice President of DANS, stated: As the leading ASNP in the region, we are going to become a CANSO Member in line with our efforts to sustain our high standards and develop our organization further. CANSO will act as a platform for us to explore new possibilities in all areas of ATM and enable us to services our customers more effectively and efficiently.

Nils Olof Svan, Vice President for Strategy at DANS, stated: CANSO membership is coming at the right time for us as we are expanding our reach in line with our Operational Strategy. The membership will help CANSO strengthen its reach in the region. It will also provide the opportunity for DANS to influence decision making on issues related to ATM in the region and globally.

As CANSO is recognized for being the global voice of air traffic management, having a new organization that operates in the fastest growing, and complex ANSP environment becoming a full member will yield a lot of mutual benefits for both organizations.

DANS will share its industry expertise and knowledge on its experience in handling very complex projects like high- intensity runway operations, operations in extremely complex airspace and sharing knowledge of operating the largest fleet of Airbus A380s. DANS is also looking to learn from the best practices of ANSPs across the world such as the safety best practices that will support the challenges of growth complexities in the UAE.

DANS is tasked with Air Traffic Control (ATC), electronic engineering and meteorology services at both Dubai International, currently the worlds second busiest airport for international passengers, and Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai World Central (DWC), being developed to become the worlds biggest airport with 200 million passenger capacity by 2020.

CANSO has stated that as the fastest growing region for air traffic growth, the Middle East presents a number of challenges for ATM: the airspace is fragmented and saturated and it is uncoordinated at the regional level. This creates various challenges for the region that can only be effectively tackled through cooperation and planning between all stakeholders. CANSOs goal in the region is to develop a coherent, coordinated, regional approach for efficient air traffic management and safe, harmonized, and seamless airspace across the region.