Hauwa Ali
The Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, has said the adoption of the new Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS), by indigenous air¬lines would tremendously reduce fuel consumption for the airlines.
Nuhu said this in Abuja at the 2nd Outreach event on SBAS Adoption In Aviation In Africa, held recently.
According to him, Airlines operating in the Ni¬gerian aviation industry will save at least N250,000 per flight as fuel consumption after the migration and implementation of the concept by the Nigerian Air-space Management Agency (NAMA).
Nuhu said that for an airline that operates eight legs daily, a quantum of resources would be saved, while also efficiency, accuracy, and the high turnaround would be achieved by the carriers.
He also said that the regulatory authority would fast-track the implementation of the new facility in order to aid development in the sector, especially for the countrys airlines.
A quarter of a million naira is saved just on one sector by an airline. This is a quantum amount of money that would be saved by any airline that adopts SBAS. Also, if an airline is doing about eight sectors daily, you know how much money would be saved through this means alone.
Besides, the amount of carbon emission would also reduce as you all know, Africa is hugely affected by climate change.
SBAS technology allows for the coverage of very wide sections of airspace and locations that were previously overlooked by terrestrial-based navigation aids. In many circumstances, it also provides more capacity, flexibility, and cost-effective navigation alternatives than older ground-based navigation aids. SBAS is an important component of Performance Based Navigation (PBN). Nuhu said.
At present, Jet A1, otherwise known as aviation fuel is sold at about N800 per litre, airlines may shed at least 12.5 percent cost through the adoption of SBAS.
Meanwhile, NAMA has dismissed the fears that the implementation of SBAS would lead to the decommissioning of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at airports and various stations across the country.
The Ag. Managing Director of NAMA, Matthew Pwajok, has dismissed the fears that the implantation of SBAS would lead to the de-commissioning of the existing ILSs across the stations and airports.
Rather, Pwajok declared NAMA was augmenting the equipment within the country.
As among the benefits of SBAS, Pwajok said the new equipment provides not just approach capability but en route capability, adding that it does not require the installation or maintenance of ground-based navigation aids or landing systems.
He explained that it also reduced flight times for airlines, fuel consumption, CO2 and noise emissions, and flight crew workload.
He added, Increases airspace capacity, reduced Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) risk/accident, delays, diversions and cancellations due to weather conditions, flight crew workload. SBAS implementation will also enhance the implementation of Single African Sky and also avail airlines with optimum flight trajectories.