Aeronautical body decries non-implementation of AIS automation

The Aeronautical Information Management Association of Nigeria (AIMAN) has decried non-implementation of the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) automation more than 10 years after conception.

President of the association, Williams Ngerem, said the AIS automaton remained critical to the overall reliability of aeronautical data globally.

AIS is a service established in support of international civil aviation, whose objective is to ensure the flow of information necessary for the safety, regularity, and efficiency of international air navigation.

Ngerem, ahead of the commemoration of this year’s World AIS day, said it was disheartening to find that efforts in the last 10 years have still not achieved the desired aim.

“Without prejudice to current efforts by the federal government to realise this laudable dream, it is pertinent to note that Nigeria, as the African giant, cannot continue to lag behind when several African countries have embraced automation in aeronautical information dissemination,” he said.

He, however, urged NAMA management to liaise with relevant organisations to see to the final attainment of Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) in Nigeria and at the shortest possible time.

He also charged the federal government to use her good offices to accelerate the implementation of the AIM project so that Nigeria can take its rightful position in the comity of nations.

The theme of this year’s AIS day is: ‘The benefits of automation to aeronautical information management’, and will be held under the chairmanship of Capt. Ado Sanusi, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Aero Contractors.

AIMAN, an affiliate of the International Federation of Aeronautical Information Management Association (IFAIMA) with its members domiciled in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), and Nigerian College of Aviation technology (NCAT) – is the body that collects, collates, processes and disseminates aeronautical information necessary for the safety, regularity and efficiency of air navigation for the use of aviation stakeholders and the public that are particularly interested in aviation matters.

AIS is domiciled on Annex 15 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Convention. The service was created on 15th May, 1953 as an array of services rendered to Pilots and other relevant Air Traffic Management (ATM) communities, such as Air Traffic Control, Air Traffic Engineers, Aerodrome Operators, Military, Civil Aviation Authority, Meteorology and so on.