Snakes on a plane? Not a problem at Dubai International Airport

Ultimate Airport Dubai gives viewers an insight into the daily lives of the 90,000 people that work at Dubai International Airport.

A front shot of the aircraft nose with the plane in a hangar with platforms on either side during a C-check.

Dubai // Snakes on a plane, kilos of heroin stitched into the lining of luggage, a flight that jettisoned Dh1 million worth of fuel before making an emergency landing – they are all in a day’s work at one of the world’s largest transport hubs.

Now they are captured in National Geographic’s second season of Ultimate Airport Dubai. The television series covers the day-to-day lives of the 90,000 staff who make up the workforce at Dubai International Airport – code name DXB.

Ed Sayer, vice president of commissioning at National Geographic, said the airport makes for a unique shooting experience because of the access Dubai Airports has given his crew.

“It says a lot for a big organisation to let you in and kind of wear its heart on its sleeve and say ‘sometimes things don’t go smoothly but we’re prepared to let you see it’.”

One of the difficulties, he said, was keeping up with the 2.4 million tonnes of cargo and 180,000 passengers that go through DXB every day.

To maximise coverage, National Geographic deploys up to five crews at the airport.

The crews have shot more than 100 days worth of footage, documenting everything from loading multimillion-dollar cars into cargo holds with only centimetres of leeway, to finding missing children among thousands of passengers.

The series focuses on certain high-profile employees in DXB as they deal with their daily tasks.

“The other thing that is really appealing in Dubai is the people who work in it,” Mr Sayer said. “The success of any series is the characters that the viewer can spend time with.”

One such character is Mel Sabharwal, Emirates airline’s manager of airport services, who handles all sorts of issues, from smuggled animals to missing passengers.

“It was difficult being on camera while on the job,” she said. “Nothing is scripted, nothing is planned. We’re just going with the flow. So if there is something that’s kicking off at 6am, we don’t know what the outcome is going to be.” Ms Sabharwal, who has worked at the airport for 10 years, said the series shows how the staff are constantly trying to achieve the best possible outcome.

She demonstrates this ideal as she tackles issues throughout the series.

Georg Broemmer is vice president of network control, or what staff call the heart of the airport. He said the show displays the intricacy of what it means to work in the business of being on time.

“It’s a funny thing,” he said. “Most people never notice when they are on time. The second you’re late, then that’s when they’ll say something.”

Mr Broemmer said that many passengers underestimate the complexity of getting a plane to take off on schedule, noting that one delay – caused by passengers being off-boarded or weather – can cause ripples in the scheduling for the rest of the day.

“That’s why the Nat Geo is so good, because of human intervention,” said Mr Broemmer, who has worked at the airport for 12 years.

“There is a tendency to oversimplify the operation of an airport, but this way we want people to see the technical intricacies,” he said “That way, next time someone runs into a delay at the airport maybe they can remember the people on the show who are working on it.”