The head of Fujairah International Airport said yesterday that the ban of a Ukrainian-made aircraft from UAE airspace will harm the country's air-cargo business. The General Civil Aviation Authority, citing safety concerns, ordered all Antonov An-12 planes to fly out of the country by Tuesday this week. Khaled al Mazroui, the airport's general manager, said the decision was taken without co-ordination with air-cargo companies and airports.
"It's not like it was a wrong decision, but it would have been better if we co-ordinated," he said. "You need to study the economic impact of such decisions. "We as a country are handling about 38 to 40 per cent of aircraft movements in the Middle East. This is not a small issue." Only a few of the 21 An-12s based at Fujairah International Airport had left by Tuesday's deadline, Mr Mazroui said, because the airport was given such short notice.
Ninety per cent of the estimated 60 daily flights from the airport are cargo deliveries, many of which are flown in on An-12s. "The decision was issued on Thursday, and they gave five days," he said. "If we look at this in terms of operations, it's impossible to implement. We have a lack of co-ordination, almost zero on this issue." In a statement released on Monday, Saif Mohammed al Suwaidi, the director general of the aviation authority, said the ban was temporary, pending an investigation into incidents involving An-12s in Sharjah and Iraq.
Mr Mazroui said he was unaware of an investigation. Fourteen air cargo operators in the UAE joined this week to protest the ban, arguing that it was not based on evidence of technical problems with An-12s. They also said air-cargo operators could not meet the deadline because 80 per cent of their planes were still under contract to make deliveries. Alexander Smolin, general manager of Sky Support Service in Sharjah and a spokesman for the cargo companies, said earlier this week that the three incidents in Sharjah were caused by human error.
hnaylor@thenational.ae
