Group seeks implementation of message handling systems at airports

• Published date: 16 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The National Air traffic Communicators' Association of Nigeria (NACAN) has called on the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to, as a matter of urgency, implement the Air Traffic Services (ATS) Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS) at airports across the country.

Its President, Rabiu Mohammed Sani, made this known in an interview.

Stressing the need for the provision of modern communication equipment for personnel in the airspace agency, Sani said some countries were migrating from AMHS to System Wide Information Management (SWIM), a new communication system.

But, Nigeria, he said is yet to implement the AMHS.

The AMHS is the system that is used to exchange Air Traffic Service (ATS) messages between users over the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN).

He noted that AMHS machines had been installed in Kano and Lagos, and configuration was ongoing but the technology was yet to be activated.

He called on the airspace agency to scale up to train more personnel in the year to avoid the challenges experienced by the department in the agency last year.

The NACAN boss said further that two sets of AMHS participants were still on ground awaiting training after getting their travel documents ready since...