The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, says it has introduced and implemented some new concepts to enhance operational efficiency for airspace users.
One of these concepts is the free routing airspace, FRA.
Acting Managing Director, NAMA, Mr. Mathew Pwajok in an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos said, the FRA was recently implemented and this the first time in the whole of continental Africa that this concept is implemented.
He stated that, this is a new concept and the benefits it gives to the airspace users is that, pilots or aircraft or airlines are able to fly a shorter route, shorter flight time, reducing fuel consumption, reducing flight time, reducing distance flown, reducing CO2 emissions, reducing pilot workload.
“This has put Nigeria as one of the few countries that have been able to do this”.
“Aircraft take advantage of wind direction, wind speed fly shorter distance within our airspace following the introduction or implementation of the free routing airspace that is a new concept aimed at assisting airlines during the Covid recovery and to enhance operational efficiency globally”.
He added, “We have also done some direct route, we have also done regional route to enhance connectivity within the Africa region”.
For the monitoring of helicopters flying in the Niger Delta region, Pwajok said, a wide area multilateration, MLAT, has been done for low flying helicopters in the gulf of Guinea.
According to him, it a project that started with the Federal Executive Council, FEC approval in 2018 and they are at the concluding stage of the project but first a stakeholder’s sensitization is required to seek the understanding, support and cooperation of the operators.
The surveillance system or MLAT system, the NAMA helmsman explained is for low flying helicopters and the beauty of this new concept or new surveillance capability to be implemented is to capture low flying helicopters that have increased within the Niger Delta area.
‘’Knowing the strategic nature of this sector, it strategic nature to the economy, we had to implement the surveillance system that will enhance the efficiency of low flying helicopter in that region”.
Mr. Pwajok disclosed that, they have incorporated what is called a UTME system that is an unmanned aircraft system traffic management system to detect unmanned aerial vehicles called drones.
“That is a surveillance and an air traffic system that can detect drones that is what we refers to as remotely piloted aircraft system or unmanned aerial vehicle we would able to monitor them and control them within the Niger Delta, so it is part of the multilateration system because we have low flying drones and also low flying manned aircraft or helicopter within the same sector most of them carrying out the same either logistics supply or carrying out pipeline monitoring, inspections of helipad, helidecks or also carrying out security surveillance within the Niger Delta, so it operates within the airspace and so this multilateration system provides us with the capability for surveillance for monitoring, for control of both manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft operating within that area in support of oil exploration activities”.
He stated that, this key project has reached over 80% implementation and the moment the equipment are installed, the transmitter and receivers will be spread over 29 locations covering the entire Niger Delta and the system will be centralized in Port Harcourt.
