NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 25 — In an endeavour to enhance air safety, aviation stakeholders were meeting on Tuesday to discuss and get updated on aeronautical data management.
The meeting, convened by Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) brought together aviators to discuss this critical aviation area under the theme “Aiming together
towards providing effective and quality assured aeronautical data/information for the Air Transport Management community.”
Speaking when during the meeting, KCAA Director General, Emile Nguza Arao said “KCAA has created this forum to serve as a platform for sharing expectations for quality aeronautical data and information as well as receiving valuable feedback from our aeronautical data users.”
The Director General emphasised that currently, the regional and global interest is geared towards improving air navigation systems to provide accurate, complete, up-to-date and integrated aeronautical information in real time.
Safety in aviation is of paramount concern locally and globally. Due to the dynamism of the aviation industry, there is a critical need for all airspace users to have access to aeronautical data and information which must be delivered in a harmonized way from reliable aeronautical data providers.
In the last couple of years, the need, role and importance of aeronautical information have changed significantly with the evolution of the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) systems.
Furthermore, the implementation of area navigation, Required Navigation Performance and airborne computer-based navigation systems has brought about demanding requirements for the quality (accuracy, resolution and integrity) of aeronautical information/data and sustainability of the aviation industry at large.
The accuracy, resolution and integrity of the data must be assured at all time.
This meeting comes at a time when KCAA is celebrating 20th anniversary of air services provision, regulation of the industry and training of aviation personnel.
Kenya has realised significant milestones in aviation, including the getting category one status for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and scoring 91.7 % in the last ICAO Audit, which is the highest score in the region.
Currently, aviation activities have picked up well, upstaging the slump that was occasioned by Covid 19 in 2020 and 2021.
The one-day stakeholder meeting is a direct response to the civil aviation (Aeronautical Information Services) regulation 2018 which requires KCAA to establish formal arrangements and share information with aeronautical data providers.
