MAF International collaborated with Flightradar24 to install aircraft tracking equipment in Abéché in Chad, an important step toward establishing a future base to respond to the humanitarian crisis across the border.
Story by Annet Nabbanja
Abbas Djazoulmi sits in the control tower, the highest point on the building at Abéché Airport. The large windows around the tower give a clear view across the airport and the land beyond it.
Abbas is the Air Traffic Control Manager at Abéché Airport in eastern Chad. For a long time, he yearned to be able to track flights coming in and out of Abéché, but there was no budget for flight tracking equipment.
The turning point was when MAF, in collaboration with FlightRadar24, installed a satellite antenna on top of the control tower, plus a communications box (FlightRadar24 ADS-B receiver) inside the control tower.
“Sometimes we had flights coming to Abéché but we couldn't see them before,” said Abbas. “Since we received that satellite antenna, it has really helped us. I am very happy that it is helping us improve our work in the tower; detecting flights.”
Steve Machell supports operations for MAF in Chad. He noticed a big gap in flight tracking across rural areas and felt there was a need to do something about it. To help address the issue, he reached out to FlightRadar24 for support.
“Often in remote places like Chad, air traffic control is very difficult to achieve without infrastructure such as radars and other surveillance equipment,” said Steve. “And we're very conscious of that and how it impacts on security.”
Abéché acts as a primary economic hub of Chad’s Ouaddai region and provides the closest access to neighbouring Sudan. Having this new technology can strengthen the efforts to help the millions displaced by the conflict in Sudan, which has led to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
It's great to see how MAF can continue to be relevant in Chad after 60 years of serving here.
“The position of Abéché is very strategically important, near Sudan, and Sudan has many problems at the moment. Having this advanced technology helps us to detect flights, to see what is happening,” said Abbas.
With MAF’s vision to respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by conflict in Sudan, creating a relationship with authorities and other air operators is the best to pave a way serving from Abéché in the future.
“We see working more closely with the authority in Abéché, particularly the air traffic controller there, will reap benefits in terms of our future plans, possibly to have a base there to be able to reach more of the isolated people in Eastern Chad, and possibly also one day to increase that stretch even further over the border into western parts of Sudan,” said Steve.
The antenna has a range of up 200 miles. It's mainly dependent upon whether there are hills, or obstacles close to the antenna which will block the signal. MAF was fortunate in that the authority allowed them to put the antenna on the roof of the control tower.
“It's great to see how MAF can continue to be relevant in Chad after 60 years of serving here,” said Steve. “Now not only have we got much more modern aircraft and a greater reach and serving more of the people in Chad than we could previously, but we're also then able to diversify how we're supporting, thinking about new technical solutions in the aviation realm.”