United Arab Emirates
Airport Guides

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Operational notes that cover more than one field.

Operating into the UAE

What is different about flying a private jet into the UAE

The UAE is the easiest country in the Gulf to fly into and the one where the airport choice matters most. A landing permit from the General Civil Aviation Authority applies at every field, is filed with the trip and issued in days; the paperwork that needs notice is at the far end, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman or Kuwait, each with its own permit. EU, US, UK and Canadian passport holders get a visa on arrival, and customs clears at the aircraft. The UAE runs on Gulf Standard Time, UTC+4, with no daylight saving. Ramadan changes daytime ground timings, and parking is a constraint only in the event weeks: the Dubai World Cup in late March, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, COP, the Dubai Airshow and the conference season.

For Dubai the choice comes down to scheduling, not distance. Al Maktoum International, southwest of the city at Jebel Ali, has a 14,764 foot runway, a 24 hour operation, FBOs on the field and ramp space, and is coordinated under a facilitation regime rather than Level 3 slots; it is about 40 minutes to Downtown. Dubai International has been Level 3 slot coordinated since 2010, carries a slot premium in peak hours and mandates handling, and is the answer only when the address is Deira or the passengers connect from a scheduled flight. Sharjah, about twenty minutes from Dubai, has a 13,320 foot runway, no slot requirement and mandatory handling, and stays quiet because its traffic is cargo and low cost.

For Abu Dhabi, Al Bateen Executive is the Middle East's only dedicated business aviation airport, 6.5 nautical miles from the city centre, with 10,505 feet of pavement and no airline schedule to fit around. Zayed International, with a 13,471 foot runway, takes the aircraft too large for Al Bateen and the airline connections. Ras Al Khaimah, about an hour north of Dubai, is administratively the simplest field in the country, with a 12,336 foot runway, no slot, no PPR and no mandatory handling, and is the diversion when Dubai parking is full. Fujairah is the only UAE airport on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz, with a 12,303 foot runway and no slot, which makes it a useful technical stop; both have non-precision approaches only.

The constraint that catches crews out is the second approval that sits on top of the national permit, because it differs at every field. Al Bateen is slot coordinated and the slot must be applied for before arrival, although the data most operators work from says no prior permission is needed, and its declared takeoff run is 8,698 feet, roughly 1,800 feet shorter than the pavement. Sharjah has no slot but mandates handling. The desk files the slot and the GCAA permit together, as the lead times differ, runs Al Bateen performance against the declared figure rather than the published runway, and confirms the stand before the aircraft moves in the event weeks.

Send the dates, the aircraft, how long it stays and which side of Dubai or Abu Dhabi the address is on. For a multi-day trip the desk will usually recommend Al Maktoum and confirm ramp parking rather than assume it; for a tech stop it plans the routing against the current airspace picture, keeping N-registered aircraft out of Iran and above FL320 in the Baghdad FIR.

Facts checked against the UAE GCAA publications, the airport guides above and Icarus Jet operations data.