Aviation, airline industries discuss Free Routing Airspace concept
Plaine Magnien, Mauritius (PANA) - The fourth Africa Indian Ocean Free Route Airspace Project Management Team (AFI–FRA-PMT) meeting which aims at developing a road map for the implementation of Free Route Airspace (FRA) in the AFI region opened in Mauritius on Tuesday.
It is being attended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Contracting States and Aviation stakeholders in Africa.
Industry experts believe the meeting at Plaine Magnien, southern Mauritius, will allow countries to better understand the concept of Free Routing Airspace (FRA), conduct risk assessment, elaborate Aeronautical Information Publication supplements and Letters of Agreement with adjacent States.
In his address, the Director of Civil Aviation in Mauritius, Mr Iswarduth Pokhun, said that the FRA is a specific airspace within which users may freely plan a route between defined entry, intermediate and exit waypoints, without reference to conventional Air Traffic Service routes.
According to him, unlike the conventional system where a pilot has to follow a fixed track, the FRA allows a flexible navigation plan where the pilot can choose the fastest route in view to reduce fuel consumption and environmental harms.
He said that the objective of the FRA is to shorten the distance between entry and exit waypoints within a Flight Information Region to help aircraft companies in reducing fuel consumption and carbon emission.
The Director recalled that since 2018 the ICAO encourages AFI States having the potential to develop and implement free routing, to incorporate the FRA concept in their national airspace.
Mauritius was selected among six other East African States to implement FRA. Thus, the island became the first African country to implement the FRA project in parts of its Flight Information Region.
The Chairperson of the AFI–FRA-PMT, Mr Kusuamina Diabasenga, indicated that the FRA helps airlines to save fuel, identify optimal routes which are more sustainable and protect the environment.
“The meeting will enable stakeholders from aviation to develop a roadmap with the aim to find ways and routes which are direct, less time consuming and more cost effective to airlines,” he said.
The meeting ends Friday.
-0- PANA NA/MA 26Oct2022
