Sadly, Blue Skye is distressingly close to the mark with this comments, as is Seaman Staynes.
NASA, you continue to take personally criticism of the sadly inadequate system you work in.
Fact: Heathrow/Gatwick do it better.
Fact: As you say, this is because they have a proper SYSTEM in place.
Fact: Particularly during the midnight rush hours, Dubai is getting to be every bit as busy as Heathrow and Gatwick.
Fact: The Dubai/Abu Dhabi ATC SYSTEM, (not the individual controllers), isn’t coping as well with this high volume of traffic. Your system needs fixing, and the men controlling the purse strings need to be convinced they have to spend some money.
I’m not trying to be an arse licking, goodie two shoes company man in trying to save fuel in the descent. I’m wingeing out of pure self-interest, for yet another fact is that it’s not always possible to carry "LOTS" of extra fuel when inbound to Dubai, and if put into the hold, a captain has pick a minimum fuel figure with which to divert, (or if he has ‘committed’ to Dubai, at which he has to say “I need to start my approach right NOW!”).
Another fact is that with Dubai’s remote holding patterns and the “magical mystery tours” at who knows what speed that we are forced to take after leaving the hold, it’s almost impossible to guess how much fuel you’re going to burn between leaving the hold and touchdown.
...and from an “end user’s” point of view, THAT’S what’s wrong with the present system.