Africa has ambitious aims to implement a Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) to increase air connectivity on the continent and drive economic growth. Air traffic management is an important component of the SAATM grand plan, with a Single African Sky being a longterm target and SAATM its enabler. SAATM was agreed upon by the heads of state and governments of the African Union (AU) in 2015 and officially launched in January 2018. The initiative seeks to establish a single air transport market in Africa, with the aim of liberalising civil aviation on the continent and driving economic integration and growth.
SAATM aims to establish a liberalised intra- African aviation market in relation to traffic rights, capacity, frequency and pricing. It will see enhanced co-operation between airlines in the region, unrestricted frequency and capacity, and fair competition, all of which are intended to benefit the consumer and accelerate economic growth and development. Some fifth-freedom routes have already been implemented, with the aim to increase fifth freedom connections to 30% by 2025.
A SAATM roadmap has been finalised and 15 African nations – Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo and Zambia – are taking a lead, committing to the SAATM pilot project (PIP) in late 2022, paving the way for implementation across the continent.
“In order to enhance and promote SAATM, it is important to develop seamless and interoperable air navigation systems in Africa,” explained Henry Okech, director safety and technical services at the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), which is part of the AU and responsible for developing and regulating civil aviation in Africa.
“This [Single Sky] was an initiative that was made at the highest African Union policy level and launched by the African Union with membership of 54 African member states, in January 2018, to support the SAATM with the objective, inter alia, of developing a seamless African airspace architecture that would provide safe, efficient, interoperable air navigation services throughout the continent,” said Okech.
The initiative’s progress was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Okech conceded. “Just like all sectors of aviation, AU and AFCAC are restarting this programme and hopefully will complete it as soon as possible, subject to availability of resources,” he said. The plan is to implement a unified air navigation system across the continent systematically.
The first stage in the process is to take stock of existing air navigation infrastructure via an Infrastructure Gap Analysis (IGA) to be followed by development of a master plan or architecture which will be implemented gradually.
“The architecture has not been finalised, but is in its inception stage,” Okech explained. “The African Union Commission [AUC] in collaboration with the AFCAC and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, in the framework of implementation of the SAATM Joint Prioritised Action Plan, is organising the first technical working group meeting on the development of the continental aviation IGA in the second quarter of 2023.”
The IGA will be based on a 25-year air traffic forecast to support development of seamless and interoperable air navigation systems in Africa. “The main outcome of the initiative is, among others, to enhance safety, capacity and efficiency in the provision of air navigation services on the continent through harmonisation of operations and procedures and investment in and enabling integrated infrastructure,” he said.
Okech said following the IGA, the AU in collaboration with AFCAC and stakeholders will develop a Seamless Airspace Master Plan for member states, with the objective of establishing a roadmap for the modernisation and integration of CNS/ATM systems on the continent. “This plan is aimed at enhancing safety, capacity and efficiency in the provision of air navigation services through harmonisation of operations and procedures, implementation of performance-based navigation routes, assignment and allocation of common secondary surveillance radar codes and investment in interoperable and integrated CNS/ATM systems. The roadmap will define when each of the steps will be undertaken and concluded,” explained Okech.
Many challenges lie ahead, he concedes, not least the ongoing effects of the pandemic. “ANSPs, airports, airlines and MET offices on the African continent have each had their own economic burdens and have had to be innovative to maintain their ability to deliver services and maintain safety,” said Okech. Infrastructure has been impacted as a result. “The infrastructure available since the start of the pandemic in 2020 has been affected, such that various actions have had to be taken, which include decommissioning infrastructure and the extension of maintenance cycles,” said Okech. Nevertheless, there are also significant opportunities ahead. “With the very promising aviation industry recovery from the effects of the pandemic, the forecast by various players indicates that by the end of 2023, air transport will have recovered to slightly better levels than the pre-COVID-19 levels. This is an opportunity for the industry to grow and embrace the lessons learned as a result of the pandemic,” he said. “We can build back better by ramping up operations, ensuring safety, building resilience in manpower, technology, finances and organisational systems. In addition, the industry will have to deliberately foster co-operation with all stakeholders to be more resilient in the future in the face of a similar calamity,” he added.
Groundwork for a Single African Sky is already underway. “The Single African Sky is a long-term aspiration, but a lot of focus day-to-day is on the enablers that will lead to this being attained,” according to the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO). “From an ANSP perspective, we acknowledge that this is a massive task and that while we align with the bigger objectives, we need to ensure that the impact of our contribution is immediate, but with longterm benefits.”
CANSO’s focus is on safety, ensuring CANSO members in the region use its standard of excellence in safety management systems to establish and maintain SMS, for example. CANSO is also working with the ICAO regional offices to implement the second phase of a peer review mechanism whereby African ANSPs can, on a voluntary basis, benchmark with each other in a structured way, but without the pressures of an official audit. Additional initiatives on safety promotion are focused on culture, fatigue risk management systems and critical incident stress management.
Other work is focused on the harmonisation of the regulatory framework, including the rationalisation of charges and levies, which is a vital ingredient for seamless operations in the envisaged Single African Sky, according to CANSO. Currently, Africa’s 54 countries use different frameworks to establish the ANS or airport charges, resulting in a “market that is difficult to navigate for airlines and airspace users”. Recent developments at the ICAO 41st Assembly addressing this issue are important, said CANSO, while the organisation has also established a working group focusing on economic regulation and ANS charges which will assist regional offices.
CANSO has various initiatives focusedon infrastructure in the region, including aviation system block upgrades, cybersecurity and resilience, air traffic flow management (ATFM), remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) and aeronautical information management. CANSO Africa has established task teams on ATFM, and runs the catalyst initiative under the Mombasa ATFM roadmap, as well as RPAS and system-wide informational management (SWIM).
It is not an easy task. “The Africa region is varied in terms of operations, infrastructure and implementation of regulation. The environment is challenging and complex and for this reason, CANSO works very closely with industry partners,” the organisation explained.
ATM solution providers are working with ANSPs in the region to update their ATM system in preparation for the future. Aireon, for example, is working with several ANSPs on the continent to improve ATM and safety, with Single African Sky being the end goal. South Africa’s Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) launched operational trials of Aireon’s ADS-B last August, leading to full operational implementation this year. ATNS covers approximately 10% of the world’s airspace, including South Africa and a large part of the Southern Indian and Atlantic oceans.
ASECNA, which manages about 16.5 million sq km of airspace for its 18 member states, has been using Aireon data across its six managed flight information regions – Antananarivo, Brazzaville, Dakar Oceanic, Dakar Terrestrial, Niamey and N’Djamena – since 2020, with the use of the space-based ADS-B solution resulting in efficiency gains through reduced separation minima and direct routing. Last year, ASECNA agreed to deploy AireonFLOW for ATFM capabilities, extending the visibility of flights outside ASECNA’s airspace and helping to predict traffic flows entering its airspace.
ASECNA is also working with ESA on deployment of a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), based on the European EGNOS technology and using Galileo satellites. Initial operational capabilities on the continent are planned for 2025. The system will deliver positioning with metre-level accuracy with a high level of integrity and progressive coverage of the continent, according to ESA.
In February, ASECNA conducted SBAS demonstrations under its Augmented Navigation for Africa (ANGA) project. Demonstrations were conducted at Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Nigeria, in conjunction with Nigerian Communications Satellite, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and Thales Alenia Space. Earlier tests had been conducted at Lomé in Toga, West Africa, and Douala, Cameroon. “This event will bolster the deployment of the ANGA system, the navigation solution for Africa by Africa, which will enhance air navigation safety and efficiency for the benefit of the whole continent, in line with my vision for the unification of the African sky,” said Mohamed Moussa, director general of ASECNA.
Meanwhile, Indra is working with 12 African countries to enhance landing safety at airports, supplying its Normarc instrument landing system and distance measuring equipment to 17 airports.
ASECNA is also increasing communication capabilities by upgrading aviation message handling in eight African nations from the legacy aeronautical fixed telecom network to advanced aviation message handling systems (AMHS) under a contract with Frequentis. The upgrade will support new functionality, including weather information and a future SWIM environment.
ATM initiatives will be part of the International Air Transport Association’s recently announced Focus Africa campaign designed to strengthen aviation’s contribution to Africa’s economic and social development, improving connectivity, safety and reliability. “Africa accounts for 18% of the global population, but just 2.1% of air transport activities – combined cargo and passenger. Closing that gap, so that Africa can benefit from the connectivity, jobs and growth that aviation enables, is what Focus Africa is all about,” observed Willie Walsh, IATA director general.
Infrastructure constraints, high costs, lack of connectivity, regulatory impediments and slow adoption of global standards are all impacting the viability and sustainability of African airlines, according to IATA, with the continent’s carriers losing US$3.5 billion in 2020- 2022, with a further loss of $213 million estimated this year.
Focus Africa comprises six focus areas, including safety and infrastructure. Under the safety focus, IATA has identified opportunities in CNS/ATM, aeronautical information and data-sharing. Focus Africa is set to be officially launched in Addis Ababa in late June when details of the initiatives will be announced.
Article originally published in Air Traffic Management magazine, issue 2, 2023. Want to receive all of the latest stories as soon as they are published? Register now for your free digital subscription.
