Civil Aviation Affairs

	About Us

Civil Aviation Affairs is responsible for the provision of safe and efficient management of all services permitting aviation access to and from Bahrain. We aim to ensure that Bahrain International Airport offers the most comprehensive range of high quality facilities and services for its customers, employees and community within a caring environment, thereby enhancing the role of the airport as the leading Gateway to the Region.

The Department of Civil Aviation Affairs comprising of some 700 staff is headed by Captain AbdulRahman Mohamed Al Gaoud , Undersecretary for Civil Aviation Affairs and is supported by three Assistant Undersecretaries,
Mr . Ahmed Nemat Ali, Assistant Undersecretary for Aviation Services, responsible for aviation services ( air transport and air navigation services),
Mr. Nabil Ali Taqi, Assistant Undersecretary for Airport Services, responsible for airport services (airport operations,engineering and maintenance and marketing and promotion)
Mr. Abdul Majeed H. Isa, Assistant Underseceretary for Meteorology.
A national meteorological service is provided whereby information is available on a 24-hour basis. Weather reports are also prepared for presentation on radio and TV . Observations are reported from Bahrain International Airport and local weather stations.Terminal and area forecasts are prepared at regular intervals. VOLMET and SIGMET services are provided on a 24-hour basis. Bahrain is a leading member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Assistant Undersecretary recently completed a term of office as President of the RAII (Asia) Region.

The following services and activities are under the respective responsibility of an individual Director :

	 Air Transport services covering all bilateral/multilateral agreements within an “open skies” framework , the issuance of permits and permissions for airline operations, carriage of dangerous goods and approval for aircraft to overfly or land at Bahrain International Airport, schedule approvals, aircraft registration,licensing and airworthiness( following a recent ICAO Safety Oversight Audit, Bahrain was ranked with an extremely high level of compliance, in many instances above the ICAO required level of 80%) , airline and travel/cargo agency affairs, international affairs( compliance with ICAO standards and recommendations, membership of international associations such as ).
	 Air Navigation services for the Bahrain Flight Information Region (FIR)( an area comprising of approx 400,000 km²) which is served by the Bahrain Area Control Centre (ACC) and three air traffic units. The ACC provides flight information services, alerting services, area control services and radar approach control for Bahrain International Airport.In 2005, 278,603 aircraft movements occurred in the Bahrain FIR. Traffic comprises of a mixture of commercial civil aircraft and military aircraft.In 2006 a new landmark Control Tower equipped with latest air navigation and communicatins equipment was brought into operation.
	 Airport operational management of Bahrain International Airport: The airport situated on the island of Muharraq is approximately 15minutes drive from the centre of the Kingdom’s capital Manama. Aviation has played an important role in the development of the Kingdom since the first recorded commmercial flight in 1932.Since that time the airport facilities have expanded initially from a desert strip, to a marine base handling flying boats to an ultra modern airfield with ICAO standard aeronautical equipment and navigational aids capable of handling the latest aircraft ( Bahrain was an early destination for the Concorde, both for proving trials and in the oil boom days of the 1980’s as a destination in its own right).Current facilities include five aprons with 32 stands including 7 airbridges. The existing Passenger Terminal building is capable of handling 10m passengers a year. The first phase of a major expansion of the Terminal to the east is expected to start in 2007 increasing the capacity of the terminal to 15m passengers by 2015.
	 Engineering and Maintenance of all airport facilities and services: The directorate plans and monitors all construction projects and ensures maintenance of buildings, infrastructure and equipment meets the required international standards as set and recommended by ICAO.
	 Marketing and Promotion of all airport services including public relations and the commercial development of airport facilities. Coordinated marketing activities are jointly planned through the Airport Promotions Group consisting of CAA, Bahrain Airport Services, Bahrain Duty Free and the Bahrain Aviation Fuelling Company.
	 Administration and Finance including human resource development and training activities.
	 Planning and Quality Assurance covering the implemention and monitoring of ISO standards throughout the organisation.