UAE Presidential Flight's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner A6-PFC returns to Abu Dhabi from Oman

UAE Presidential Flight's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, tail number A6-PFC, flew from Ibra Airport in Oman to Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi on Friday, October 23, 2026. The aircraft departed Ibra at 14:31 UTC and landed in Abu Dhabi at 15:16 UTC. The flight lasted 45 minutes.

Ibra Airport sits at an elevation of 1,500 feet. Zayed International Airport has a longest runway of 13,471 feet and an elevation of 88 feet. The aircraft had been on the ground for about 19 hours before this flight, following a previous tracked landing at Abu Dhabi on October 22, 2026.

The great-circle distance between the two airports was 254 nautical miles, or 292 miles. The aircraft reached a highest altitude of 40,000 feet and a top ground speed of 424 knots. Its average ground speed was 340 knots. Based on celebplanes estimates, the flight burned about 485 US gallons of fuel, producing about 4,655 kilograms of CO2. That is about the same as driving a car 11,523 miles. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is built for long-range VIP transport, with a typical range of over 7,000 nautical miles and seating for up to 300 passengers in a standard configuration.

This was the 14th tracked landing by UAE Presidential Flight's aircraft at Abu Dhabi in the 30 days before this flight. The previous landing at the home base was on October 22, 2026, just one day earlier, also by A6-PFC. The home base for the fleet is Zayed International Airport. In the 30 days before this flight, the owner's three aircraft made 12 flights, totaling 81.2 hours in the air and an estimated 506,819 kilograms of CO2. The most common destinations in that window were Abu Dhabi, with 13 landings, and London Essex, with 2 landings. The longest leg in that period was a 5,956-nautical-mile flight from Abu Dhabi to New York on October 1, 2026.

Recent flights by A6-PFC include a 2-hour 46-minute flight from Abu Dhabi to Abu Dhabi on October 22, a 7-hour 51-minute flight from Jubail to Abu Dhabi on October 16, and a 7-hour 39-minute flight from Abu Dhabi to Abu Dhabi on October 8. The aircraft burns an estimated 650 US gallons of fuel per hour.

UAE Presidential Flight operates out of Abu Dhabi International and carries the president and senior Abu Dhabi leadership on diplomatic and bilateral visits. President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has led the UAE since 2022. The fleet centers on three modern VIP aircraft: A6-ALN, a Boeing 777-2ANER; A6-PFC, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner; and A6-PFE, a Boeing 787-9 BBJ. The UAE maintains close diplomatic ties with the United States, Israel, China, and India, generating frequent intercontinental missions. This short flight from Oman to Abu Dhabi does not align with any known public event or scheduled appearance for UAE Presidential Flight.

The aircraft's movements are tracked, not the person aboard. The flight may have been a training sortie or a positioning move.