The managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr Tayib Odunowo, has expressed the need for regional collaboration and synergy between adjacent flight information regions (FIRs) to enhance the safety of African sky.
Odunowo stated this during the signing of a memorandum of understanding between NAMA and the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA).
Odunowo who was represented at the event by the general manager, air traffic control operations, Mr. John Tayo, said such collaboration would guarantee seamlessness of air traffic management as well as interoperability of communication, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) systems among states on the African continent.
The agreement which was signed in Lagos at the end of a five-day coordination meeting with ASECNA officials from Lome and Cotonou sought to enhance air traffic coordination between the Lagos Area Control Centre (ACC) and Lome Area Control Centre as well as between Lagos ACC and Cotonou Approach Unit.
Specified in the letters of agreement were procedures for separation of aircraft between the two ACCs in terms of radio frequencies, the point at which aircraft are transferred and altitudes for transfer of aircraft across the common boundaries.
Also in the agreement were modalities for the coordination of air traffic along the newly created routes (UL255 and UN247) within Lome airspace terminating at POLTO.
The ASECNA officials were assured that issues with coordination and data interchange equipment like automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) and air traffic services message handling services (AMHS) would soon be surmounted with the ongoing deployment of the new VISAT 10.02 network.
The concept of free route airspace (FRA) already in operation within Kano FIR Region (Nigeria) as well as its derivatives like increased airspace capacity, shorter travel time, reduced carbon emission, reduced operational costs to the operators and reduced workload for controllers and pilots was presented to the visitors for possible adoption and implementation.
The visiting ASECNA team inspected navigational facilities at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, like the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) site, control tower, mobile control tower at CENTREX, CAT III equipment as well as the newly installed surface movement radar.
