The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has announced that, as of September 25, RVSM is now in effect in the airspace above the Africa-Indian Ocean (AFI) Region.

ICAO estimates that the reduction in fuel burn in the region will result in annual savings of $85 million and an annual reduction of 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide. It said the six additional flight levels between 29,000 and 41,000 feet will increase the overall efficiency of airspace management, leading to better on-time performance and fewer delays on the major air traffic routes between Africa and other regions.

RVSM implementation in the AFI Region comes after two years of intense preparation and extensive coordination with 47 states under the leadership of ICAO headquarters in Montreal, the ICAO regional offices in Nairobi, Kenya; Dakar, Senegal; and Cairo, Egypt; and in cooperation with major industry stakeholders.

Implemented initially in the airspace of the North Atlantic in 1997, the concept has been applied successively to Europe, the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, North America, Central America and South America. With the implementation of RVSM in the AFI Region, almost all major international traffic flows are now covered.