NAMA Emerges First To Bag AFRAA Free Airspace Award
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) scores again attained a milestone by becoming the first organization to win the Africa Airlines Association (AFRAA)’s Free Route Airspace award on the continent.
The award, received on behalf of the agency by NAMA Director of Air Traffic Services (DATS), Mr. John Tayo according to AFRAA, was in recognition of NAMA’s excellence in service delivery, innovation and dedication in the Free Route Airspace Project on the continent.
Secretary General of AFRAA, Mr. Abderahmane Berthe said the Nigeria agency has been at the fore front in championing the safety and competitiveness of the airspace and routes for airlines in the African aviation industry.
Nigeria began the conceptualization, development, charting, publication and the successful implementation of the Free Route Airspace on December 2, 2021 beginning with the Kano Flight Information Region.
According to the agency, the subsequent appraisals of FRA-local implementation revealed its general operational benefits to include a reduction in flight time, reduction in fuel consumption for airlines, a reduction in carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere and the further reduction in Air Traffic Controllers and Pilot workload.
Others are economic and flight efficiency advantages for airspace users between the Kano FIR and adjacent Flight Information Regions, increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for NAM through the increased flight rotations per Direct Route Operations (DRO) – increased flight frequency per route segment.
Speaking after receiving the award, Mr. John Tayo commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support to the agency to continuously develop the country’s airspace in line with global standard and described the NAMA Managing Director, Engr. Farouk Ahmed Umar as a visionary leader whose foresight has placed the agency as one of the best in airspace management and development across the globe.
According to the Air Traffic Director, Nigeria will continue to implement the Free Route Airspace across borders in conjunction with the following adjacent Flight information Regions (FIR) within the continental and oceanic airspace of the ICAO AFI region.
He noted that specifically, NAMA will continue to collaborate with countries within the West and Central Africa (WACAF) region Accra FIR, Niamey FIR, Ndjamena FIR, Douala FIR and Brazzaville FIR.
