The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NAMA

  • Air controllers, NAMA bicker over gadgets

    The National Association of Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA) yesterday said radio communication in the Nigerian airspace has not improved, despite efforts by the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to fix the problem.

    It alleged that the management is politicising the issue, rather than finding a lasting solution.

    The air traffic controllers called on the Federal Government to declare a national emergency on aviation communication facilities.

    NATCA President Victor Eyaru said the radio communication problem has existed for three decades beyond management.

    Eyaru said though NAMA management expended over N400 million for VHF coverage and spent over N400,000 each for personalised headsets, it is not a solution to the problem.

    His words: “Our position is clear. The Federal Government should declare a national emergency on aviation communication facilities in the interest of all.

    “We do not want to be part of impending mass murder of innocent people that use Nigerian airspace. Enough is enough.”

    But NAMA, in a statement yesterday, said it did not understand the motive behind the air controllers’ agitation.

    It reads: “The management is affirmative that the seeming gloomy picture being painted by this group does not exist as the daily statistics show more traffic across the nation ‘s airports, averaging 500 , apart from over 150 daily flights around the Port Harcourt Airport axis operated by the oil companies .

    “Apart from the fact that the daily foreign flights into the country has increased, the nation is being inundated with more requests by foreign airlines aspiring to explore Nigerian market.

    “What else do you need to measure a safer sky?

    “If there are no communication as being touted by the controllers one may then ask of their magic wand in handling these flights in question over decades as suggested in their statement.

    “We view this latest affront on the management by the controllers as another attempt to distract its attention from pursuing the set goals of transforming the agency to a world-class air navigation service provider.”

     

  • NAMA handles 500 aircraft daily

    NAMA handles 500 aircraft daily

    The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) handles about 500 aircraft and 300 helicopters daily, the Managing Dirctor, Nnamdi Udoh, has said.

    He told The Nation that the aircraft are aside the numerous foreign aircraft that over flies the nation’s airspace en route other countries.

    He explained that the increased number of aircraft that use the nation’s airspace  would continue to challenge the infrastructure,  including radio communication between the pilots and air traffic controllers.

    The NAMA boss explained that because of the increasing traffic on the nation’s airspace, the agency has taken steps to improve air navigation infrastructure, including the total radio coverage of the country, the total radar coverage of Nigeria, as well as the performance based navigation for which Nigeria is the first country in Africa to implement it.

    He said the airspace agency has been approached by many private airstrip and aerodrome operators to provide air traffic services, which is evidence of improved infrastructure and recurrent training of it’s personnel.

    He explained that this year alone, NAMA has trained at least 300 air traffic controllers in the U.S, South Africa and Egypt in many areas of air traffic management.

    Udoh said the agency will continue to invest in the training of its personnel, which he said is key to ensuring that Nigeria meets the minimum acceptable standards in air traffic services.

    He explained that it is wrong for anybody to insinuate that the Nigerian airspace is unsafe, as it will be unprofessional for any air traffic controller to suggests so, even as he affirmed that no airline pilot will embark on any flight without receiving air traffic instructions from the control tower.

    He wondered why more foreign airlines will like to fly into the Nigerian airspace , if it is not safe, even as he said that without radio communication, which could have issues of congestion, the pilots could still land their aircraft.

    He said : “ If all is well, there will be no air traffic control, those that design air traffic control know that there will be problem like this but let quickly say that no pilot can fly an aircraft from the ground without receiving an instruction.

    For the record and for the umpteenth time the agency want to use this opportunity to reassure Nigerians that our airspace is safe as in safe and as should be safe.

  • Nigeria switches to automated flight plans

    Nigeria switches to automated flight plans

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), Mr. Nnamdi Udoh, said Nigeria will change from the analogue method of preparing flight plans to automated system on Thursday.

    He said this at a stakeholders’ forum on the implementation of the new International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) flight plans in Nigeria.

    “From Thursday Nigeria will join the rest of the global aviation community in this development, as it has become mandatory for all contracting states of ICAO to do so,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Udoh as saying at the forum.

    Udoh said the new flight plan would afford air navigation service providers the opportunity to make maximum use of aircraft capabilities.

    He listed other benefits of the new flight plan to include ability of the aircraft to conduct flights more closely to their preferred trajectories and facilitate the utilisation of advanced technologies, thereby increasing efficiency.

    “It will also enhance optimised demand and capacity balancing through efficient exchange of information,’’ Udoh said.

    The NAMA boss also said that the switch-over would enhance the airlines’ use of modern capabilities on board the aircraft, as well as enhance search and rescue operations when the need arose.

     

  • ‘How airspace redesigning’ll save costs’

    ‘How airspace redesigning’ll save costs’

    The redesigning of the Nigerian airspace to make it compliant with the World Geodetic Survey 84,  the latest technology in air routes, will save millions of naira for carriers.

    The design is one of the steps taken by Nigeria to meet the International Civil Aviation Organisation  standard  and transit to performance-based navigation.

    According to the Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nnamdi Udoh, the redesigning of the airspace  will help to curb transit time by 30 per cent and reduce the cost of air transport.

    Also, the airspace design will minimise  the impact of weather and other disruptions  as well as achieve 99 per cent on time departure  and arrivals.

    He explained that the new airspace design  will also limit passenger processing time in the airport to less than 10  minutes.

    He, however, identified some challenges the aviation industry is grappling with to include poor policy environment, inadequate infrastructure, poor financing, poor regional leadership, operational difficulties as well as identified and unidentified security challenges.

    Udoh said: “ Nigeria must take the lead in the full and timely implementation  of the Yamoussoukro Declaration on the development of the open sky policy.

    “To meet the estimated  seven per cent growth rate, significant  investment will be required  in fleet, personnel and infrastructure. The public and private sector must be encouraged  to invest  in the anticipated growth.”

  • Anxiety as Fed Govt restructures FAAN

    Anxiety as Fed Govt restructures FAAN

    Uncertainty pervades the aviation sector as fear of possible job loss grips personnel of the aviation agencies with the on-going restructuring at the Federal Airports Authority of NIgeria ( FAAN), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the NIgeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

    The uncertainty came on the heels of the redeployment of personel carried out last week. Some Directors and General Managers were moved from NAMA to NCAA and the Accident Investigation Bureau, as well as the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology( NCAT), in Kaduna.

    The restructuring, it was learnt, was part of the institutional reforms to enhance efficiency and service delivery in the sector.

    Although, a few letters of redeployments have been distributed to the affected personnel, there are indications that a major shake up, expected to affect all the agencies is underway. This has caused tension and panic among the workforce.

    Meanwhile, FAAN yesterday announced the restructuring of the organisation in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

  • Unions, aviation agencies meet on debt recovery

    Unions, aviation agencies meet on debt recovery

    • Air Nigeria’s pilots petition CBN over N35.5b

     

    Two days after Arik Air resumed flights at airports across the country, union members and heads of aviation agencies yesterday reopened talks on the huge indebtedness by domestic airlines.

    At the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA), were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Ministry of Aviation.

    A source said the meeting dwelt on how to recover the debts without putting pressure in the system. Other strategies were explored.

    Also yesterday, reports that Arik Air gave directive that it would not permit the Managing Director of FAAN, George Uriesi, to board its aircraft were swiftly denied by the airline.

    The airline’s spokesman, Banji Ola, said in a telephone interview, that he was not aware of such directive.

    He said : “ I am not aware of such directive. I cannot confirm that because at no time did we give such directive, so I am wondering where that came from.”

    Meanwhile, staff of Air Nigeria, have petitioned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), asking it to investigate the disappearance of the N35.5 billion aviation intervention fund given to the carrier last year. The fund was meant for streanthening the firm’s operations before the recent shut down of its domestic flights.

    In the petition dated September 12, 2012, entitled, “ Closure of Air Nigeria, call for investigation of N35.5billion Aviation Intervention Fund,’’ the branch chairman of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Air Nigeria, Roland Ahmed, said the body wants the CBN Governor to probe the N35.5 billion facility drawn by the carrier.

    It said, ‘’The fund was released after much pressure to enable Nigeria airlines refinance their huge debts as well as inject life to the administration of aviation.

    ‘’We understand that the fund extended to Air Nigeria was guaranteed by the airline’s main banker, United Bank for Africa. To this end, we feel obliged to intimate you of the recent closure of Air Nigeria by its Chairman, Jimoh Ibrahim.

    ‘’Permit us sir, to draw your attention to this, as we believe it to be an anomaly and a defeat of the noble intention of the Federal Government through the CBN. We therefore implore your office to take immediate steps to safeguard, the N35.5billion public fund, which now appears trapped by Air Nigeria’s closure.’’

    The workers also noted that the airline’s Air Operator Certificate (A0C) expires after 60 days. It lamented that the statement credited to the airline’s chairman that it would re-open for business in 12 months time, was contrary to the provisions of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

    The CBN had, while injecting the fund to the sector, said “airlines can now partake from the funds and those that are indebted to banks can refinance their loans and amortise them over a period of 10-15 years.”

    The funds were to be dedicated to the airlines that meets the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s certifications. It was also meant to address all the issues of technical standards and planes’ airworthiness.

    The Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi had recently called for a review of the fund because it was not delivering on its mandate.

  • NAMA completes TRACON

    The total radio coverage of Nigeria (TRACON)on VHF has been completed, Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mazi Nnamdi Udoh has said.

    He said the Kano phase of the VHF coverage, which has been delayed for sometime, has just been completed to complement the Lagos phase, which had earlier been completed and put into operation.

    ‘’We now have seamless airspace and in addition to this, we are operating area radar control as from next week (this week).”If you are taking off from Lagos, you don’t have to change your squak (code used by a pilot to communicate with the air traffic controller) to Port Harcourt, Abuja or Kano.

    The controller will transfer you seamlessly to the next radar and maintain the same squak to land. Prior to this, we were having procedural aerial control but now, we are going to use surveillance aerial control,” he said.

    He said with the completion of TRACON, the country is strategically positioned to conquer the African airspace.

    “If you are looking at Cameroun, Togo, Niger, Chad, you will see that we are strategically positioned to embrace that section of the airspace. And all we need is to have some kind of wide aerial multi-lateration system to link up the other countries. All we need is one system and a switch and all the systems in Africa will talk to one another.

    “You don’t really have to physically see the infrastructure. It’s like roaming a phone; something is there that is making you connect anywhere you go. It is doable; it can be achieved overtime. The major thing, like the Director General of NCAA, Dr Demuren said was the political will and the support of AU and ICAO and other relevant bodies,” he said.

    He noted that the European airspace could not be compared with that of Africa because, ‘’we cannot compare Africa with Europe, which has a smaller airspace. Seamless Africa airspace is something that is do-able. It is something we can achieve over time’’.

    On the manpower need of NAMA to keep the system working, Engineer Udoh said: ‘’ Nobody keeps manpower in store. We are training and re-training retired people. We are using them to create succession plans because nobody ever thought technology will go the way it is today. So, we are going to continuously recruit and retrain’’.