Members of Civil Aviation Authorities from East African states, on Monday held a meeting where they discussed how to incorporate Rwanda and Burundi into the Unified Flight Information Region (UFIR).

The chairman of UFIR, Saidi A. Onga, said that the Kigali meeting was requested by regional CAA heads to update Rwanda and Burundi on UFIR.

The Director General of the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA), Dr Richard Masozera, who officially opened the meeting, urged the participants to come up with recommendations that will help the region have a safer and more secure airspace.

"I call upon experts from UFIR who are present in this meeting to put in place ways and mechanisms that will assist all civil aviation authorities in EAC to be more attractive to the growing global aviation industry,” said Masozera, adding that the region should not be left lagging behind.

Philip Wambugu, the Director of Planning and Infrastructure in EAC, said that the meeting would also address issues of the Rwandan and Burundian airspace that is used by aircrafts from the DRC, a non member of the EAC.

According to the experts, a study, under the UFIR project, is being conducted on how the EAC can have one aircraft control system. The experts say that one control system will minimize costs in flights within the EAC region.

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