The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it hopes to increase its revenue from the current budget of over N20 billion annually to N30 billion.
The agency which is managing about 22 airports in the country said that it has taken steps to actualize this goal and has set up a committee to map out plans to boost revenue generation for the agency, especially from the non-aeronautical areas.
It noted that for it to be able to pay overheads, pay salaries of its huge personnel and still has funds to maintain the airports, it must earn more money, so the agency which has received approval would soon increase passenger service charge from the current N1000 to N2500 for domestic passengers and from $50 to $100 for international passengers.
A confirmed source told THISDAY that the agency hopes to earn more revenue from the new airport terminals in Abuja and Port Harcourt and expressed the hope that soon the new facilities in Lagos and Kano would be completed and this would boost FAAN’s revenue.
In the past four years FAAN has engaged in massive recruitment of personnel due to political pressures and not from need, so from 5000 staff, the agency has a current workforce of 7000 and, according to the source, if the organization does not increase revenue, it would not be able to pay salaries to its personnel.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma said that the agency is doing everything possible to increase its revenue base.
He noted that in addition to increased personnel, FAAN would have to spend more on aviation security in the procurement of equipment, guns and others, as it aims to equipment its security personnel, as endorsed by the federal government.
To actualize this goal, FAAN has raised a committee which would look at various opportunities available, especially in non-aeronautical sources to boost its revenue, as the management said it would exploit every possibility available to ensure that more revenues are generated.
Dunoma said that it was high time airport authorities on the continent diversified their revenue generations away from aeronautic to non-aeronautic, stressing that other airport managers across the world had already keyed into this.
He insisted that the committee, which he is the chairman, consisted of relevant directorates and departments responsible for revenue generation for FAAN and would come out with a roadmap to enhance revenues for the agency.
He declared that FAAN as an agency could not be left behind in development of its airport infrastructure, stressing that the only way to achieve this was for it to diversify its revenue generation and tap into the myriad of opportunities in the system.
He explained further that apart from Nigeria, other airport authorities across the continent were also deliberating on how to increase their non-aeronautical revenue services, which he said formed the theme of this year’s Airports Council International (ACI) held in Egypt.
“What we intend to do is to diversify our revenue sources. In Africa, we have not tapped into non-aeronautical sources and we are encouraging African airports to look at non-aeronautical revenue sources of revenue because aeronautical sources of revenues have limitations; they are highly dependent on flight operations.
“The non-aeronautical revenues are being developed so much that they can be in pari-passu with the aeronautical sources of revenues. This is what we want African airports to develop. Some papers were presented to guide African airports to develop that area.
“As a matter of fact, I just finished a meeting with my team. I set up a team on revenue generation and this team is chaired by me. It is very sensitive to the survival of African airports especially FAAN. We started the meeting today (Monday) and we will continue to meet every week until we get to where we want to be.
“We have not come up with a target yet, but the committee will come up with that. There are lots of departments involved, including engineering and commercial. By the time we develop some projects, we will have revenue targets that we want to achieve. This will be done by the committee.”
In Europe, the United States and some parts of Asia, non-aeronautical revenue has outstripped aeronautical revenue and some airports have been turned to aerotropolis, where myriads of economic activities take place.
THISDAY
