After two disastrous crashes in three months and a perilous aviation safety record, the Sudanese government has announced the restructuring of the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in which the regulatory body and the operational body are kept separate from each other, in line with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) recommendations.
Speaking yesterday at the project's launch in Khartoum, Sudanese Minister of Defense and Supervisor of CAA Staff, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahim Mohammed Hussein, said that he hoped that the restructuring process would positively impact the economy as well
as heighten the level of security in air operations and flights:
"Sudan is at a crossroads between several regions; making laws and enforcing them leads to improving the quality of aviation as a whole," said the director. He went on: "Due to signing a number of agreements; the air traffic and passenger movement have reached new better levels."
Lt. Gen. Hussein
Overall, the project is part of a strategy entitled "3*3" whose objective is to stimulate economic growth in three stages over the span of three years. The first stage will involve liberalization of
airspaces to be followed by the development of airports, with their economical and viable operation forming the third and final stage.
In reality, a renewed Sudanese CAA will now oversee five separate operational companies and a newly created air accidents investigation agency:
- The Sudanese Airports Holding Company,
- State Airports Holding Company,
- Khartoum International Airport Company,
- Consultative Aerodrome Engineering Company,
- Sudanese Aviation Technology and Science Academy,
- An independent air accident investigation agency.
In recent years, Khartoum
has frequently complained that its poor record in air safety is largely
due to lack of spare parts for its aircraft caused by US Sanctions, a claim the US refutes claiming that sanctions extend to only military, and not civilian, aircraft.
