NAMA Takes Delivery of New Landing Aid

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has taken delivery of consignments of equipment for category 3 Instrument Landing Systems/Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME) for Lagos and Abuja airports.

The consignments, which were cleared recently from Apapa wharf are already at the premises of the agency in Lagos.

Speaking on this development, the Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said installation of the landing aids, which would commence soon, was part of the agency’s effort to ensure that aircraft lands safely in adverse weather condition, especially during the harmattan.

He also revealed that the second phase of the project involving the installation of ILS/DME in Kano, Port Harcourt and Katsina airports would commence as soon as Lagos and Abuja installations were completed, stressing that the choice of these airports was informed by the severe weather conditions prevalent in them.

Also, in line with the agency’s commitment towards enhancing the quality of air traffic services in the country, NAMA has successfully split the Lagos Sub-Flight Information Region (Sub-FIR) airspace into two sectors: Lagos West Area Control Centre on 120.9MHz radio frequency and Lagos East Area Control Centre on 127.3MHz frequency.

The sectorization which took off recently was a culmination of a two-year strategic plan by the agency to achieve sectored operations in the Lagos sub-FIR owing to the then congested single radio frequency en-route control operations.

Speaking to stakeholders at the flag-off of the facility, Akinkuotu said although sectorisation of Lagos had eluded NAMA for over 16 years, it took the commitment and determination of staff to see to its actualization.

He said sectorising Lagos became imperative owing to the increasing volume of traffic and the attendant challenges posed to both pilots and air traffic controllers. He said in a bid to achieve this feat, the agency had put in place several measures to ensure its effective take-off.