LAGOS, NIGERIA – The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Lufthansa Airlines have collectively reaffirmed unwavering commitment to ensuring sustainability in the aviation sector.

They gave the affirmation after an Exclusive Discourse Event organised by Lufthansa Airlines in Lagos.

                                                                                                                                                      The Director of Air Transport Regulations, NCAA, Mrs Olayinka Babaoye-Iriobe, stated that the authority was empowered by the Civil Aviation Act, 2022 to regulate environmental issues.

Babaoye-Iriobe, represented by Mrs Evelyn Tanko, Deputy General Manager, (Commercial Agreement & Aviation Environment), further reiterate NCAA’s commitments to the sustainability of the industry.

According to her, NCAA has domesticated ICAO Annex 16 on Environmental Protection into the National regulations under Part 16 of Nig. CARS which covers requirements for monitoring, reporting, and verification of CO2 Emissions for international aviation, and Part 5 addresses aircraft noise and emission certification.

She also highlighted some of the initiatives of the NCAA on the sustainability of the industry which included: the development of a State Action Plan on CO2 Emission reduction from international aviation.

“Nigeria voluntarily joined the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) during its pilot phase in 2018 and has continued to ensure the timely submission of CO2 emission data from airlines under CORSIA.

“Also, leading on a Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Roadmap for the development and deployment of SAF in Nigeria,” she added.

According to Babaoye-Iriobe the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria is rolling out Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) at major airports ultimately to reduce their carbon emissions.

She added that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency has implemented Free Route Airspace (FRA) and Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) all efforts for the reduction of carbon footprints and towards the sustainability of the industry.

She also identified key challenges in implementing and scaling sustainability policies within the aviation sector as; fragmented policy environment; limited data and monitoring systems; financing constraints; regulatory and institutional capacity, awareness among others.

On her part, the Senior Director (Sales), Lufthansa Sub-Sahara Africa, Mr Rene Koinzack said that the airline has deployed Science- Based Target Initiatives (SBTI).

According to him, the SBTI deployed comprises of modern fleet, efficient flight operations, carbon neutral flying, sustainable aviation fuel, reduction of waste and plastics as part of their effort to sustain the industry.

The regulator and the operator emphasised that airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, and regulators must all play their roles to promote eco-friendly practices by reducing carbon emissions, improved fuel efficiency, develop alternative energy sources, and enhance operational efficiency for the sustainability of aviation industry.