NCAA, Lufthansa commit to aviation sustainability 

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), in collaboration with Lufthansa Airlines, has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to ensuring sustainability in the aviation sector. This firm commitment was made at the Exclusive Discourse Event organised by Lufthansa Airlines at Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Olayinka Babaoye-Iriobe, director of Air Transport Regulations, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), who was represented by  Evelyn Tanko, Deputy General Manager, Commercial Agreement & Aviation Environment stated that the Authority is empowered by the Civil Aviation Act, 2022 to regulate environmental issues and further to reiterate its commitments to the sustainability of the industry, NCAA has domesticated ICAO Annex 16 on Environmental Protection into the National regulations under Part 16 of Nig. CARS, which covers requirements for monitoring, reporting, and verification of CO2 Emissions for international aviation, and Part 5 addresses aircraft noise and emission certification.

The Director highlighted some of the initiatives of the NCAA on the sustainability of the industry. These initiatives include: The development of a State Action Plan on CO2 Emission reduction from international aviation, Nigeria voluntarily joined the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) during its pilot phase in 2018 and has continued to ensure the timely submission of CO2 emission data from airlines under CORSIA and also leading on a Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Roadmap for the development and deployment of SAF in Nigeria.

She added that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is rolling out Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) at major airports ultimately to reduce their carbon emissions and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA) has implemented Free Route Airspace (FRA) and Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) all efforts for the reduction of carbon footprints and towards the sustainability of the industry.

Key challenges in implementing and scaling sustainability policies within the aviation sector were identified to include: fragmented policy environment, limited data and monitoring systems, financing constraints, regulatory & institutional capacity, and awareness, and industry readiness.

Also speaking at the panel session, Rene Koinzack, the Senior Director (Sales), Lufthansa Sub-Sahara Africa,  said that the airline has deployed Science- Based Target Initiatives (SBTI) which comprises modern fleet, efficient flight operations, carbon neutral flying, sustainable aviation fuel, reduction of waste and plastics as part of their effort to sustain the industry.

It was emphasised that airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, and regulators must all play their roles to promote eco-friendly practices by lowering carbon emissions, improved fuel efficiency, develop alternative energy sources, and enhance operational efficiency for the sustainability of aviation industry.