Middle East

CANSO established its Middle East Region in 2009 to represent its Members and act as the voice of air traffic management (ATM) in the region. With air traffic growing rapidly, and the region increasingly becoming a global hub, ANSPs in the Middle East face a number of challenges. Increased cooperation and enhanced planning between all regional stakeholders will help address regional airspace challenges.

CANSO’s goal is to develop a coherent, coordinated, regional approach for efficient air traffic management and safe, harmonised, and seamless airspace across the region. CANSO works closely with industry partners and States to develop and implement joint regional initiatives. It established the Middle East ANSP Airspace User and Stakeholder Engagement initiative (MEAUSE) in 2010 to provide a forum to tackle these challenges. It is also fully involved in in a number of regional working groups and programmes, including the Middle East ATM Enhancement Programme (MAEP), to coordinate its positions on, and represent CANSO’s interests in institutional, technical, and operational issues.

CANSO focuses on: improving safety through implementation of safety management systems; enhancing customer relationship management; promoting collaborative decision-making (CDM) with industry partners; providing advice to States and ANSP on implementing better, performance-based regulation; raising awareness of and helping to implement ICAO’s Aviation System Block Upgrades  (ASBUs); as well as sharing best practice on a range of ATM-related issues.

The Middle East CANSO CEO Committee (MEC3) directs CANSO’s work in the Middle East within the framework of CANSO’s global strategy, policies and positions. MEC3 provides input to decision-making and advisory bodies dealing with ATM in the region.

The Middle East Strategic Coordination Committee promotes CANSO’s Middle East strategy to “realise, enhance and develop seamless airspace” in the region.

Safety in the Middle East operates under the guidance of CANSO’s Safety Standing Committee. This includes helping implement safety management systems (SMS), openly sharing lessons learned, establishing a positive safety culture, and educating senior management and staff in SMS.

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