CHRISTINA MACKENZIE / PARIS
All of Africa's French-speaking civil aviation authorities are to meet with South Africa to discuss air safety and air traffic management (ATM) solutions for the region.
The November meeting is the idea of the 16-member air safety agency ASECNA (Agence pour la Sécurit‚ de la Navigation Aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar) and South Africa's Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS).
Ousmane Issoufou Oubanda-waki, ASECNA's president since January 1999, oversees a six-year investment budget of $230 million, of which $125 million is earmarked to improve airport services.
Also in a nine-point improvement plan are $39 million for surveillance, $18.6 million for communications, $18 million for navigation and $14 million to hire and train more personnel.
ASECNA, which controls 16.1 million km2 of airspace, is responsible for air traffic control and airports. All operational personnel, such as air traffic controllers and meteorologists, are ASECNA employees.
An objective of the November meeting is to push for "the widest harmonisation possible". Oubanda-waki suggests that a similar agency for Anglophone Africa should work with ASECNA.
One of ASECNA's main problems has been ensuring airlines pay for its services. ASECNA is trying to recoup "more than $13 million" owed to it by collapsed Air Afrique.
Source: Flight International
