By Chinedu Eze
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Ibrahim Abdulsalam has expressed optimism that the establishment of Runway Safety Teams at the four major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt would further enhance safety in air travel in Nigeria.
Abdulsalam said NAMA had also organised the training on the use of Runway Safety Tool Kits, as well as the development and implementation of Runway Safety Action Plan, which would further enhance safety of air navigation in the country.
The NAMA boss disclosed this at the opening of a two-day Runway Safety workshop in Lagos, noting that the establishment of Runway Safety Teams was a safety programme initiated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) aimed at collaborative decision making amongst various stakeholders involved in runway operations.
Abdulsalam said this was necessary for safety, efficiency and economy of flight operations within terminal areas and associated facilities at the airports, adding that runway safety remains the most critical aspect of air safety, not only because the most critical phases of flight operations occur within the runway strip, but because of the multiplicity of sensitive activities that take place within the airside.
He listed these activities to include takeoff and landing of aircraft, surface movement of aircraft, movement of operational vehicles, security personnel, Jet A1 vehicles, construction vehicles, airfield lighting maintenance personnel, navigational aids maintenance personnel, aerodrome rescue and fire fighting vehicles, Air Traffic Control vehicles on runway inspection, wildlife, vegetation and bird control, search and rescue vehicles, as well as various other stakeholders operating therein.
According to him, the implementation of Runway Safety Teams is of strategic importance to the agency as its primary responsibility is that of preventing collision between aircraft in flight, between aircraft on the ground, as well as between aircraft, vehicles, obstacles or persons on ground.
Abdulsalam pointed out that the Runway Safety Workshop leading to the establishment of Runway Safety Teams had become inevitable following the Abuja Ministerial Declaration of 2012 which recommended the implementation of appropriate measures to reduce the rate of fatal accidents within the African continent by not less than 50 per cent in order to bring it down to the global rate, even as he said the declaration was necessitated by the fact that “while the African continent accounts for the least volume of flight and passenger movement as compared to other continents of the world, Africa nevertheless accounts for the highest rate of fatal aircraft accidents globally.”
In his remarks at the event, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), represented by the Director of Operations, Capt. Abdulahi Sidi stated that as a regulatory authority of the industry, the NCAA has put in place legal frameworks regarding runway safety and effort was being made to ensure full compliance that bring about zero accidents and incidents at the runways in the country. Also in his remarks, the Director of Airport Operations, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt. Henry Omeagwu who represented FAAN Managing Director stated that his agency places premium on operational safety standards at the airports with special emphasis on runways, taxiways and aprons just as he assured that FAAN was working assiduously to mitigate incidences of runway incursion, excursion and confusion at the nation’s airports.
The FAAN boss therefore called on all stakeholders to support the Runway Safety initiative. Organized by NAMA in collaboration with other aviation agencies, the Runway Safety Workshop being conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airport Council International (ACI) is expected to drag till January 20, 2016 with the setup of runway safety teams for the four international airports and a field inspection by visiting international aviation experts.
