Operated by Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), Abu Dhabi International Airport serves the city of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. It is the second largest airport in the UAE. In 2008, its passenger traffic achieved a record 9.02 million passengers, up by 30.2 per cent from 6.9 million passengers in 2007.

Located 32km from the heart of Abu Dhabi city, the airport is built over an area of 350,000 square metre.

The Project: 24 fibre back-bone installation

The 2 km runway was a complete turnkey project which was awarded to Al Jaber Group which is one of the UAE’s largest groups with a workforce in excess of 50,000 and a total asset base exceeding AED10billion. The Group is geared to meet the constantly changing demands of the market by investing in the latest engineering and information technology. FOSS has built a great relation with Al Jaber Group and was awarded this US$2.5 millions (approx AED 9 millions) project which took 1 year to complete. The scope for this project was to carry out the design, installation, project management and commissioning in the following activities, in accordance with the customer’s requirements.

• Voice & Data
• Fire Alarm/ Alert system
• NAVAIDS & MET communications

FOSS Solution

FOSS were engaged to design install test and commission the optical fibre backbone to provide the network connectivity around the runway. In total, 130 kilometers of 24 core singlemode fibre was installed and commissioned in accordance with the project requirements.

Result

In October 2008, the new 2km runway project was complete and open for aircraft traffic. In January 2009, Abu Dhabi International was the first airport in the Middle East region to receive regulatory approval for enhanced low visibility operations. This classification, also known as CAT III B, allows for aircraft to land safely and manoeuvre in low visibility conditions. The upgrading of the airport’s original runway allows it to be operational unless visibility falls below 125m. Widely expected to help reduce delays associated with weather conditions, such as heavy fog, the new classification puts Abu Dhabi International Airport among a select number of airports in the world.