I`ll try not to bore you but let me briefly give you some reasons why the arrival spacing at Dubai appears to be so much more than at places like LHR.
Dubai`s two rwy`s are too close together to be operated independantly, departures must be rolling in the gap between an inbound touching down and the next one reaching two miles final. Hence the standard minimum gap irespective of wake minima is set at 5 miles although occasinally at peak periods we work down to vortex minima.
The 5 miles is measured when the first inbound is at 4nm final hence the second at 9 miles. This gap naturally decreases as the first reduces below 160kt and doesn`t really leave much of a departure window for the other rwy. We are not permitted to use "Land After" procedures or reduced rwy separations at night and in several other cases including when the tailwind component exceeds 5knts at any time of day. Any smaller gap between inbounds will cause delays to outbounds so it has to be balanced according to the inbound or outbound flow.
These factors themselves are fairly restrictive but add into that aircraft with the same exit gate having to be streamed 10nm in trail for all gates and the amount of flow control at night through some gates and it is pretty easy to see how delays can build up both on arrival and departure.
Anyone who has been through DXB at peak periods will be pretty aware of the traffic level and whilst we are not working to the flow capacity of other major airports in movements/hour we are working to the limits of what we are allowed to do without being removed from duty.
Any Dubai based drivers that want to see the world from our side of the fence will be very welcome to come for a visit.