UAE aviation regulator to review airline passenger wait times on tarmac

A committee would be addressing the matter soon, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, director general of the General Civil Aviation Authority said, adding that the regulator will intervene only if the matter concerns 'the safety' of passengers.

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, director general of the General Civil Aviation Authority, said that he asked for a 'benchmark report' to be presented to him. Sarah Dea / The National

The UAE’s aviation regulator is to consider whether there should be a limit on how long passengers can be kept inside a plane on the tarmac.

"The General Civil Aviation Authority will be looking at the subject to see if there's a need to govern this," Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, director general of the GCAA, told The National.

Mr Al Suwaidi said that he asked for a “benchmark report” to be presented to him this week; the report would reveal how different jurisdictions deal with tarmac delays.

Mr Al Suwaidi explained that a committee would be addressing the matter soon, adding that the GCAA will intervene only if the matter concerns “the safety” of passengers.

“If it’s about the passenger inconvenience, then it will be left for the airline,” he added.

Flight delays in the Emirates can result from bouts of fog on the ground, where low visibility raises safety concerns.

In the US, three hours is the maximum time for passengers to be kept inside an aircraft before the flight takes off or is cancelled. If an airline exceeds this time limit, it would pay a hefty fine of up to $27,000 per passenger.

The US policy has, however, been blamed for increases in cancelled flights. Tony Tyler, head of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), the airlines lobby group, has called the US policy an example of “amazingly un-smart regulation”.

The airline association is inclined to leave the decision in the hands of airlines.

“When regulating, we also ask that governments consider which areas are best handled by market forces,” said Iata. “Airlines compete to offer good customer service. That is very clear in the Gulf region. The negative publicity around such events as this is a very strong incentive to avoid repetition.”

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