• NAMA rallies airlines to new services to optimise operations
Ahead of this year’s harmattan season and attendant disruption often experienced in local air travel, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has commenced a general overhaul of navigational facilities at airports nationwide.
Besides the upgrade of Instrument Landing Systems (ILSs) at all airports, the controversial Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) and Safe Tower facilities are also getting new equipment, estimated to worth N36 billion.
The massive rollout, The Guardian learnt, is part of measures to improve the status of facilities that had been abandoned over the years and deepen air safety nationwide.
The TRACON facility, which cost €66.5 million and was inaugurated in 2010, was a subject of conflict between NAMA and its foreign contractor, Thales of France. The facility was starved of spares, forcing it to temporarily shut down. However, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in February 2022 awarded the sum of N28 billion for the upgrade of the facility and other towers at four major airports.
Acting Managing Director of NAMA, Matthew Pwajok, told reporters that ongoing TRACON upgrade would cost N23 billion, while refurbishing of towers would cost additional N13 billion.
Pwajok noted that NAMA and its engineers had done very well in keeping the critical equipment functional in the last five years of Thales of France abandoning the facility.
He said: “I am sure Thales never believed we would keep the system functional without them. Remember, we were paying millions of Euros to support the services agreement but that has been saved. A lot of money has been saved in the form of maintenance in-house.”
Pwajok explained that apart from N17 billion meant for the system upgrade, N5 billion was for the Very Small Aperture Terminal (V-SAT), which connects the nine individual radars in their locations.
“It is a project worth N23 billion for software and hardware upgrade, provision of maintenance for nine radars covering the entire country. The nine standalone radars connected by V-SAT are in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Talata-Mafara, Obubra and Numan.
“I find it surprising when people doubt that the radar is working optimally. The system has been optimal and it is verifiable. If you land at Lagos, you see first and foremost the radar antenna rotating.
“That antenna rotates 24/7, and 365 days every year. If the radar is down, the pilots would know as they will go procedural and approach is longer. I can tell you that with this radar, we can see aircraft over Accra, over Cotonou; Lome, Naimey, N’djamena, Douala, over Yaoundé; Equatorial Guinea, and Malabo. It is a total radar coverage and it is functional.” Pwajok noted.
He added that ILSs had been upgraded at nationwide airports, with 10 airports getting new Category II ILSs. 10 airports also got Doppler Very high-frequency omnidirectional radio-range (DVOR). With the ongoing addition of new navigational systems nationwide, Pwajok added that airlines would have access to shorter routes across networks, to save fuel and operating costs.
Acting Director of Operations at NAMA, Jubril Haske, added that the airspace agency had lately invested millions of dollars in navigational equipment at all airports nationwide, and now left it to the airlines to utilise them optimally.
Haske hinted that there are new ILSs for safe landings at poor visibility, coupled with standard shorter routes for local airlines to use to their advantage.
Indeed, the issue has always been the availability of advanced navigational facilities at major airports, which local aircraft have not been upgraded to match for safe landing of airplanes even at zero visibility, especially during the harmattan season.
