Holds rather than vectoring please - but not half way to Karachi or Theran as we currenty do (Bubin and Desdi).
Coming in from Europe last week during the midnight rush, I was sent to Bubin - 60 miles the other side of Dubai - to hold. Granted, we didn't quite get there before being turned back for the approach.
It never ceases to amaze me how EK goes to such great lengths to have us save fuel... except at the home port. The early descents, (I heard one aircraft being given FL230 30 miles before ORSAR last night with RW30 in use at Dubai), the remote holding, but most importantly, the drag it in vectoring results in all those savings in fuel elsewhere - and more - being squandered every night of the week by standard arrivals into Dubai. On average, in my experience, you need nearly twice as much fuel from top of descent into Dubai than at any other port in the EK network - that's almost two tonnes as opposed to around one tonne, which is not inconsiderable.
The guys on Dubai Approach do a damned fine job handling the amount of traffic they're presented with every night given the p***poor hand of cards they're dealt by the Viking gentleman in Abu Dhabi. I just can't understand why TCAS or someone high up in EK doesn't demand Abu Dhabi gets the hell out of the equation and lets Dubai handle the incoming traffic efficiently. The current procedures are costing EK (and every other user of Dubai) a veritable fortune in unnecessary fuel burn.
End of rant.