Ok so I was in Dubai intl in IF expert server yesterday and there was a whole taxiway long queue for takeoff so I decided imma join em too so I got my fpl ready and started . I reached the queue and I was so confused how slow the atc was handling the queue we so I checked my map then saw that many other planes were assigned to land in our runway ( 30R) which was not a good idea by atc when there is (30L) I took 2 hrs to get through the queue and get airborne . Even other pilots quitted the flight
Welcome back to the Community!
Both runways were being used for arrivals - they ultimately have priority. There were too many arrivals to just use 30L. Departures were being let out wherever there was sufficient space.
Unfortunately the very layout of OMDB’s runways and taxiway network does not lend itself very kindly to the levels of traffic we saw - with only one main taxiway between the two runways.
Howdy @Airport_fun_with_Sha, I was controlling OMDB Ground during the peak departure period. Let me start off by saying thanks for coming down to Dubai, and I’m sorry to hear it took you that long for you to depart. Two hours to depart would be too much for me personally.
I’d refer to what Benny had to say above, his words sums up my thoughts pretty nicely. The inhound and outbound traffic at OMDB were drastically unrealistic, requiring support from 2 Approach controllers and 1 Center controller - mainly due to OMDB being the weekend hub with a featured community event (flyout) taking place concurrently.
While we continually aim to minimise departure delays as part of service quality, we have to balance said service for arrivals too in fairness.
I agree it’s very easy for anyone to judge operational decisions based on perception alone, but I assure you a ton of coordination happens behind-the-scenes to best minimise delays for everyone. It might not be perfect, but ultimately I stand behind the operational decisions made by the team to use 30R for arrivals as needed
Just to clarify, 30R was later repurposed solely for departures once arrival traffic had died down heh.
Hello! During peak times, it becomes really difficult to manage traffic using just one runway at Dubai Airport, especially with such high volume. It would’ve been much more efficient to utilize both runways and reduce the number of arrivals on 30R to ease the load. Proper runway distribution is key in handling heavy traffic like that.
I understand