Safety in focus at 9th Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) in Dubai

Safety in focus at 9th Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) in Dubai

Safety, security and the resurgent business landscape will be under focus at the 9th Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) in Dubai next month. The event will be held from May 17 to May 19th and aims to unite professionals to discuss how technology can helps airports transform safety, security and efficiency.

The event comes as Dubai Airports are expected to receive 55.1 million passengers this year, making it the world’s number one airport for international travellers, and Air transport will now account for US$1.5 trillion to global GDP by 2036. The GALF event will take place alongside The Airport Show and will focus on the resurgent business landscape with both international and domestic traffic volume recovering faster.

Along with Airport Security Middle East, ATC Forum and Women in Aviation Middle East Forum as co-located events of the 21st edition of Airport Show, the GALF-2022 will see renowned experts and officials talking about a variety of topics of crucial importance in four sessions at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on Airport Innovation and Development, Air Traffic Management (ATM), Airport Sustainability and Airport Security.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, holds the patronage for the Airport Show. He said: “The Airport Show and its co-located events have provided, over the past two decades, platforms to take the aviation agenda further and farther.

“The aviation’s transformation is tech-driven and helps overhaul the safety, health, security, and efficiency levels in the operations of airports and airlines around the world. Dubai has been at the forefront of adopting technology to enable the accelerate the aviation’s bounce-back.”

Under the Airport Innovation and Development, the panelists will speak about adopting data, AI, 5G and robotics for better passenger experience, advances in integrated, automated, electric mobility in the airport environment, innovations in design, ambience, and operations as a key element in the airport’s development strategy, and the future urban air mobility. Speakers at the session on Air Traffic Management (ATM) will address combining human and Artificial Intelligence for better airspace management, building a Digital Sky to meet future the ATM challenges, protecting the airspace from drone incursions and other vulnerabilities and Level4 Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS).

The Airport Sustainability session will discuss mega hubs’ sustainability, innovations, and technologies to help airports become more climate-friendly, sustainability contributing towards a better passenger experience and partnership in the wider ecosystem of city and transport authorities, airlines, and communities to meet the environmental targets.

The Airport Security session will have experts speaking about developing intelligent, end-to-end control of the entire airport infrastructure to meet future security challenges, the role of advanced, disruptive technologies like AI, Machine Learning, VR, robotics, and data in enhancing resilience, building stakeholders’ collaboration to ensure passenger safety and satisfaction, and how ‘Smart Travel initiatives contribute to better security management.

Supported by Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), Dubai Airports and data, the Airport Show and its co-located events are a driving force for the industry to emerge stronger following the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis has prompted a faster uptake of technologies and prompted long-term changes to airport infrastructure. GALF-2022 will provide expansive business and professional networking opportunities, unparalleled learning experience and to obtain an overview of the technical developments and innovations and the most important and uncertain drivers of change.

Firas Abu Ltaif, Exhibition Manager at Reeds Exhibitions Middle East, the organisers of the Airport Show, said: “Knowledge enhancement supports continuous sustainability of the industry and helps facing up with future challenges spraining from the amazing pace of transformation. GALF will, as usual, provide a wonderful window of opportunity for professionals and decision-makers to learn where aviation is headed to and what routes of success lie ahead. Airports need to be fully prepared for the coming boom period and the GALF will help the entire ecosystem by providing insights.”