The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority unveils strategy plan 2013-2015

Titled ‘Shaping Tomorrow’s Aviation (2013-2015)’, the full-cycle strategic plan has been endorsed and approved by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of DCAA, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.

The strategy was formed based on the Dubai Strategy that was set as a strategic framework for Dubai government entities, and reflected the directions of the Dubai Aviation Sector Strategy (DASS), which DCAA had coordinated its formulation in 2011, on directives of the Dubai Executive Council.

A handbook on the new strategy plan will be published in English and Arabic to create awareness among the aviation industry professionals.

A stakeholders’ conference will be held for in October for debate on the plan and to get feedback, which will then be reviewed for inclusion as the plan implementation progresses.

The policy document has identified five strategic pillars towards achieving the vision of Dubai of becoming the global aviation capital and contributing to prosperity and enabling growth for Dubai. 

The strategy has taken into consideration the entire gamut of developments and trends in designing a roadmap for success and the way forward to a bright and sustainable future.

H.H. Sheikh Ahmed, in his foreword, said: “The aviation industry in the emirate of Dubai has witnessed a steady growth in the past years and it continues its stride, competing with the world’s renowned aviation cities to acquire the highest share of passenger and air traffic. Besides the growth of the industry, we consider that it is our prime duty and responsibility to ensure implementing the highest standards of safety and security in all activities related to aviation.”

In this context, he said, the DCAA directs its strategy objectives and programmes to build a sound legislative and regulatory framework within the emirate of Dubai that translates the vision of the leadership into strategic initiatives and programmes that support achieving the objectives of Dubai’s strategy.”

Sheikh Ahmed added: “The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority Strategy (2013-2015) is an ambitious roadmap that will drive and support the growth of the aviation industry in the Emirate of Dubai aligned with the Dubai Government strategy and other key stakeholders and players in the industry.

“Adopting innovative and creative practices in executing the strategy is the key to success through which the contribution to the GDP of the Emirate, competitiveness of Dubai aviation industry and optimal alignment and integration amongst the other stakeholders could be achieved.”
He said the DCAA strategy will be sowing the seeds of success further for the aviation industry and will enhance the quality of government service excellence provided to businesses and consumers, while deploying the highest standards of regulations and policies related to the aviation activities and will eventually enhance the wellbeing of Dubai’s community and prosperity in the country.

H.E. Mohammed Ahli, Director General, DCAA, said the DCAA was committed to providing “boundless support" to the growth of the aviation industry in Dubai, while maintaining the highest standards of safety and security in the aviation industry through adhering to the Standards and Recommended Practices adopted by the ICAO and those issued under the Federal legal and/or regulatory bodies.

This, he said, reflects the vision of leadership of the UAE and the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable development in various strategic sectors to ensure prosperity and sustainable growth.

The DCAA Strategy also reflects the Dubai Aviation Sector Strategy which will support the future of the aviation industry, including the national carriers, promote the aviation industry’s contribution to Dubai’s GDP and improve the integration amongst is key stakeholders.

The DCAA Strategy covers five main pillars that influence the outcome of the aviation sector: Growth, Capacity, Sustainability, Customer and Capability.

He remarked: “Our main focus is to support Dubai’s competitiveness level and enhance the growth of passenger numbers and cargo at our two international airports, facilitate the expansion of the designated airlines of the emirate of Dubai through securing aero political rights through multilateral and/or bilateral air service agreements or understandings with other states whilst encouraging airlines of those states to use airports in the emirate of Dubai.”

The strategy plan also outlined measures and initiatives for enhancing customer’s experience with innovative solutions and technology and increasing the excellence level of Dubai’s aviation services.

Several initiatives and policies, he said, will be focused at improving the standards of aviation safety, security and the environmental impact resulting from the aviation activities through promulgating the Dubai Civil Aviation Policies (DCAPs).

He said the air transport industry’s regulatory body was committed to building the required capacity of a specialised workforce in the aviation sector whilst focusing on recruiting and developing UAE nationals to lead and handle key positions in the aviation sector.

Mohammed Ahli noted: “Our success is highly pinned with the common and shared responsibilities among the leadership in the organisation, as well as having an integrated organisational system that improves the quality and excellence of our key processes, which also provides for innovation, creativity and outstanding performance.”

Performance Champions

Hani Abu El Soud, head of strategy and organisational excellence office at DCAA, said the strategy plan provides the framework for further development of the civil aviation sector.  This is the most-comprehensive strategy plan of the DCAA and comes at a time when the aviation industry is on a fast growth trajectory and Dubai being on a fast track towards achieving major milestone, including becoming the world’s top airport for international passengers.  The 2007-2009 Strategy Plan was more focused on building the DCAA organisation, while the 2010 Strategy Plan refined the vision, mission, values and guiding principles along with setting up the key performance measures.
The strategy plans were in line with the overall Dubai Government’s Strategy Plan and aligned with the Dubai Aviation Sector Strategy Plan.

The Corporate Planning Team, led by Muna Al Nuaimi- DCAA’s performance specialist and comprising of members from all the DCAA departments, worked on preparing the strategy plan and overseeing its smooth implementation. The DCAA benchmarked the 2013-2015 Strategy Plan with other destinations and completed it in line with the regulations and policies of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Explaining about the Strategy Development Methodology, Hani Abu El Soud said a series of sessions were conducted with all the departments to determine the Corporate Strategic goals, objectives, and Key Performance indicators (KPIs). DCAA Board of Directors approved them and assigned the KPIs targets for the upcoming three years. The corporate planning team then developed departmental objectives cascading each department contribution to the corporate objectives, and the necessary business plans for the next three years.  First series of sessions were conducted to determine the required budget for 2013, and the second series of sessions were conducted post budget approval from Department of Finance to prioritize manpower, projects and training according to the approved budget.

About the aviation sector’s contribution to Dubai’s economy, the strategy plan said the aviation sector supported 259,000 jobs and helped generate over
$11.7 billion in 2011, both directly and indirectly, through support for the tourism and other industries.  Aviation’s contribution to Dubai’s GDP is expected to reach AED165 billion, which is equivalent to 32 per cent, up from 28 per cent recorded in 2011, according to Oxford Economics estimates.  The aviation sector employs more than five per cent of the ‘waged workforce’ in Dubai, the plan stated.

The strategy execution methodology included a new reward system named Fursaan Al Ada’aa (Performance Champions) to encourage DCAA departments to work as one team to achieve high performance, with excellence and high quality standards. This will ensure alignment of strategy, thus successfully achieving the corporate level goals and objectives.