Growing Air Navigation: NATCA Wants Stakeholders To Align Policies With ICAO Objectives

The Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), an affiliate of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Association (IFATCA) has strongly called on “stakeholders to align their policies and initiatives with ICAO’s strategic objectives that provide the global framework for managing the safe and efficient growth of air navigation which is necessary for overcoming the challenges we envisage in the future.”

NATCA President, Edino Amos Ilemona in his felicitation message with the civil aviation community on the occasion of the attainment of Eighty (80) years of the Chicago Convention, which culminated to the formation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), said “the major objective for the formation of ICAO was echoed in the preamble to the Convention on International Civil Aviation wherein it reiterates civil aviation’s role in creating and preserving friendship and understanding amongst the peoples of the world through principles that will promote the development of civil aviation in a safe and orderly manner that international air transport services, will be established based on equal opportunity and operated soundly and economically.

The principles have evolved into Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), which regulate and guide aviation activities globally, making aviation the safest means of transportation. We have witnessed in the past Eighty (80) years, the evolution of civil aviation growth that led to the doubling of global air traffic movement every fifteen (15) years. This is unprecedented in our history. It is worth noting that the enablers of such a movement are the frontline professionals; the Air traffic controllers, the unseen hands, whose skills, resilience, and aptitude in managing air traffic and airspace, are key to the successes achieved.

While we celebrate the successes, challenges confront us in the future. Statistics have revealed that there are currently about One Hundred and Twenty-Six Thousand flights (126,000) daily navigating the world to safely convey passengers and cargo. The doubling of these numbers in the next fifteen years poses a challenge to ICAO and the global civil aviation community.”

NATCA also applauded ICAO’s efforts in developing a global framework with implementation strategies in the form of the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) to address future challenges as “NATCA aligns with ICAO’s strategic objectives and will along that line, continuously engage with stakeholders in driving initiatives that will enhance safety and air navigation efficiency to ensure a safe, interoperable, and seamless air space system to meet the needs of the global flying public.”