NAMA facilitates collaborative action on runway safety

Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has collaborated with airport regulatory bodies to organise a two-day workshop targeted at improving safety of air navigation within the runway and associated airside facilities at the airports.

The regulatory bodies include Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), and in conjunction with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Airport Council International (ACI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The workshop, which will hold between the January 18 and 19, in Lagos, is titled ‘Runway Safety Go Team: Runway Incursion, Excursion and Confusion.’

This will involve paper presentations from international aviation experts on the above topic as well as the structure and terms of reference of runway safety teams, hazard identification, risk assessment and mitigation.

The runway safety workshop is also expected to involve practical assessment of the airside, including the runway and associated facilities and thereafter, a report shall be issued at the end of deliberations.

In a statement, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, managing director of NAMA, noted that the workshop was expected to eventually “culminate into the inauguration of runway safety teams for Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt airports in compliance with ICAO mandate on the establishment of such teams at all international airports.

“The agency took the initiative to facilitate this programme because the responsibility for the safety of aircraft landing and taking off on the runway as well as surface movement of aircraft rests with NAMA.”