NAMA to digitalise NOTAM, embarks on training

IN its current drive to digitalise Air Traffic Management services and efforts to make for ease of access to online real-time aeronautical information, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), has developed an application software intended to enhance the dissemination of aeronautical information, also known as Notice To Air Men (NOTAM) electronically to airspace users.

To this end, a three-day train-the-trainer workshop designed to educate and sensitise airline operators, service providers, aviation agencies, the Nigerian Air Force and other stakeholders on the migration from manual to digital NOTAM, has already taken off at the agency’s headquarters at Lagos airport.

Declaring the workshop open, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, Managing Director of NAMA, noted that, ‘aviation globally is moving away from manual to digital operations and Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind.

He stressed that ‘the agency’s determination to provide safe, efficient and economic air navigation services has challenged us to deploy new technologies that would ease service provision, save time and reduce operational cost for the airlines and aviation agencies/organisations.

He therefore expressed confidence that ‘the deployment of e-NOTAM would make for ease of access to online real-time aeronautical information by doing away with paper work, and bureaucracy that characterises the old system.”
Abdulsalam also assured participants that NAMA was willing to make all necessary adjustments to accommodate customers’ feedback and complaints in areas of possible improvement.

The provision of aeronautical information that could enhance flight operations is one of the key functions of NAMA.
Before now, NOTAM was printed in hard copy and made available to airspace users.
Apart from time constraint, the cumbersome nature of paper work posed a challenge to both the agency and airspace users especially in emergency situations.

E-NOTAM therefore was conceived to ensure an accurate database of NOTAMs, address the above challenges and also bring about efficiency in service delivery.

It would be recalled that NAMA had in the recent past, developed the e-flight plan and e-clearance software packages in response to the yearnings of airspace users for a faster method of processing flight plans and clearances.