The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Board of Directors reviewed the financial statements for Q3 2017 and approved the GCAA budget for the year 2018.

During the 5th meeting held under the chairmanship of Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of GCAA, the Board also addressed a range of topics including measures to ensure the safety of UAE airports and airspace in preparation for the winter fog. The Board also launched some new initiatives, including a world first helicopter application and the new "Edarti HUB".

GCAA launched the first-of-its-kind technical innovation application at the Dubai Airshow. The application provides a database of continually updated, technical information about vertical airstrips and locations in the UAE for helicopters. The application includes a database of 151 vertical airstrips covering all emirates for helicopter users such as helicopter companies, police helicopters, search and rescue and medical as well as senior personnel. The launch of the application was part of the TRA's technical innovation initiative to enhance the helicopter industry.

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the GCAA, said, "The General Authority of Civil Aviation seeks to play its role in the development of the country and enable the civil aviation sector to contribute to the achievement of the federal government's strategy. It will be the first application of its kind to be applied by the vertical ramps. Usually, information about vertical ramps is only available manually and not updated. The application will mostly target the provision of humanitarian services and will be available for all vertical hubs of hospitals, in addition to the airfields located in major cities, thus allowing helicopter users to carry out their tasks effectively."

The Edarti HUB is a one-stop, integrated platform that consolidates all internal services for GCAA employees and is compatible with a wide range of devices helping to create a paperless work environment. The HUB solution has a large array of features, including a centralised task management system for managing the resource utilisation, measuring employee happiness and team collaboration.

For instance, a user can directly create a ‘Minutes of Meeting’ and assign tasks against each action item and then track progress. The application also features live social media feeds providing a real time display of GCAA news and events to enhance employee experience and engagement.

Edarti also features a ‘ChatBot’ which simplifies internal service delivery mechanisms creating an interactive and easy to use system for GCAA employees to do things like apply for leave and book transport etc.