Airlines flying within and overflying the Nigerian airspace are set for new flight experience as the federal government through the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), has concluded plans to install new navigational facilities (navaids) across the country.
Ibrahim Abdulsalam, managing director of NAMA, also disclosed that the Agency has established some new routes in order to lessen fuel burn and flight time by airlines.
According to him, all is set for the arrival of the new navaids as officials were set to go for the acceptance test soon.
“We are installing new navigational aids across Nigeria including Lagos. We are planning to go for the acceptance test soon and thereafter, they will be brought in and installed. The one that will be removed will be taken to a station that doesn’t have something that is working well.
“The one that is taken from Lagos can be used in another station for better performance. Though government has approved for six airports, what we are doing is like replacing 12 airports. At the end of the day, what we are going to be impacting is not just on the six airports but all the other airports,” he said.
Abdulsalam, who disclosed that the Agency opened new flight routes namely: Lagos-Guinea Conakry; Nairobi-Abuja; Cameroon-Niamey; Abuja-Algeria and Central African Republic, also said that Kano Safe Tower project would soon be completed for air traffic control to move in.
“The new routes will reduce fuel consumption and flight time. A Performance Based Navigation (PBN) regional route has also been established with the training of 40 PBN professionals while another 40 will be trained soon for the total coverage of the country.
“A contract for the provision of facilities that will enhance communication between pilots and controllers through SMS known as Controller–pilot data link communications (CPDLC), has been signed between NAMA and SITA and will commence operations in June this year,” he added.
He announced that NAMA was in the advanced stage of deploying multilatration in the Gulf of Guinea, adding that the Agency still has a lot things to get sorted out before it can be deployed.
He said that NAMA has taken over the provision of air navigation services at Kebbi, Dutse, Bonny Island aerodrome, Forcados Aerodrome and Bauchi airports while the federal government has cleared the debt on the TRACON support services owed Thales of France, the company that deployed the system.
On its debt recovery move, Abdulsalam disclosed that the federal government had engaged the services of a financial consultant to reconcile the indebtedness of domestic airlines operating in Nigeria to the aviation agencies, namely, NAMA, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
He also said that if the debt owed by the local carriers was not properly addressed, it would ground the services offered by the agencies in the aviation industry.
According to him “We are working out modalities for payment of debts owed by the airlines. That is why we are not releasing the figure they owe us. It is our local airlines that have been defaulting in payment; they are part of our system and we have to be moderate with them.”
“Nobody flies on credit; you have to pay for the ticket. That is why the airlines should honour their debt obligations to the agencies. If we ground the airlines, people will be affected. It will not immediately solve the problem and I believe we will manage it,’’ he said.
Sade Williams
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