JEDDAH, 20 September 2006 — Saudi Arabia is planning to change its civil aviation navigation system from ground based to satellite based in phases, according to Muhammad Al-Salimi, director of air corridors at General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA).
“The new system will be implemented partially at this stage as the total shifting to the new international navigation system requires time and should pass through different phases,” he told Arab News.
Al-Salimi said the Kingdom would enter into serious negotiations with a number of countries under the umbrella of the International Civil Aviation Authority to set out laws on the use of satellites for air navigation.
He said the Kingdom would participate in the activities of the International Civil Aviation Organization to develop and modernize civil aviation systems, set out new regulations, and modernize the management of air traffic.
“The shift from ground-based system to satellite-based also requires qualified manpower,” he said. “Consequently, the GACA will conduct intensive training courses for its air traffic control staff in satellite and digital communication.”
The satellite system is called Galileo and is the first global satellite positioning and navigation system designed specifically for civilian use.
He said the authority was currently applying satellite communication in some airlines. The objective is to help airlines save time by reducing flight duration. This will also increase air traffic and attract foreign airline companies, he explained.
Al-Salimi made this statement while addressing a meeting of the working group to implement future navigation systems. The meeting was organized by the GACA.
Opening the meeting, GACA President Abdullah Al-Rehaimy said he was looking forward to setting out mechanisms that help Arab civil aviation administrations and airline companies to set up air corridors to provide airlink to aircraft equipped with FANS1A satellite air navigation systems in Arab skies.
“Arab countries will benefit a lot by applying this modern air navigation system in terms of economic and operational aspects and the benefit will reflect directly on air navigation service providers as well as airlines and other users,” Al-Rehaimy said.
Spelling out the benefits, he said direct use of air corridors would help save fuel, reduce the time for flight, increase air corridor capacity, help open new air corridors and thus help increase air traffic and financial returns of Arab aviation authorities.
“It will also reduce the work of aviation control staff, achieve more efficiency in communication between air control staff and pilot as they will use digital data instead of sound data. This will also lead to improving aviation security and safety,” he added.
Al-Salimi said the meeting was aimed at promoting coordination between air control offices in Arab countries in preparation to apply the new satellite system. He said total reliance on the satellite air navigation system would be achieved by 2015.
