In the last one month there have been acute problem of aviation fuel scarcity and bad weather that severely interrupted flight operations. These two problems, which are solvable, seemed at that time to eclipse the fundamental problem that has dogged flight operations over the years. The problem has been inefficient airports due to obsolete infrastructure, inadequate facilities and obvious lack of commitment by the airport management.
Industry insiders said that the deplorable situation of Nigerian airport is not due to lack of funds. Rather it is due to mismanagement of funds and lack of commitment and patriotism of those whose responsibility is to provide these facilities, from the officials in the Ministry of Transportation to the leadership among the aviation agencies.
The observers said that the failure of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigerian (FAAN) to provide airfield lighting at all the airport runways is because they agency did not see it as a priority. Yet the absence of airfield lighting in these airports give rise to many flight cancellations every day. And when airlines cancel flights, passengers take them to the social media and literally slaughter them.
An operator told THISDAY that when an airline schedules flights for a day, exigencies caused by mainly delays could make the airline not to meet timely targets of take offs. So the flights to all the airports besides the major airports in Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos face the risk of being cancelled if such flights are delayed till 6:00 pm because FAAN did not install airfield lighting at many of the other airports.
In 2015 FAAN generated N162, 887, 530. 00 from the Margret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar but it cannot provide airfield lighting at the airport. It generated N457, 725, 797. 86 from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu but it cannot provide efficient airfield lighting and good runway. FAAN generated N119, 732, 831. 27 from the Benin airport in 2015 but the airport has no airfield lighting. Airlines and concerned industry observers ask, where have all these monies gone. Where did the N251, 989, 023. 68 generated from Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport in 2015 gone that the airport does not have airfield lighting. They wanted to know how FAAN prioritises its airport development that the airports that generate so much money for it are not developed. After the four major airports in Lagos, which generated N21, 997, 298, 790.92 during the same period, Kano, which generated N1, 297, 298, 790. 92, Abuja, which earned N6,820, 466, 119.12, and Port Harcourt that generated N2, 011, 400, 531. 38 within the same period, the aforementioned airports generate huge revenues without having essential terminal and other facilities.
The Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Nogie Meggison said despite all the charges collected by FAAN, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), these agencies couldn’t provide the needed airport and landing equipment to enhance flight operations; rather, the deficient facilities at the airports lead to flight cancellations and delays, noting that 50 percent of daily flights are either delayed or cancelled.
“What are they doing with the charges they are collecting? What are they doing with the navigation charges, terminal navigation charges. FAAN has 11,000 staff. The money they ought to use to provide airfield lighting they use to pay over bloated staff. The economic loss to the airlines is huge and unbearable. Instead of using the money to provide and modernise facilities we are using it to service recurrent expenditure. The equipment that we have became obsolete in 1968,” Meggison said.
He regretted that after 6:30 pm most airports in Nigeria close, recalling that in those days (1983) Benin had landing lights, Calabar had landing lights, Enugu had landing lights, Port Harcourt had landing lights.
“In Benin the light does not exist now. No cable, no lighting bulbs as I experienced three months ago. There was no physical light in Benin,” he said.
He said the problem is from the service providers (FAAN and NAMA), “Either the navigational aids are bad or there is no fuel or the processing bottlenecks at our boarding gates. When they call for flights in Abuja you check the passengers through only one boarding gate.
“It is the same thing in Lagos. Arik Air has about 14 departures between 7:00 am to 8:00 am in Lagos. If you go to the processing during boarding, Arik has only one exit. Inevitably there will be a delay. Arik has an average of 120 passengers per flight; there are about 1600 passengers to be processed through one gate in one hour. Even the human fatigue on the person screening for security is a problem. By the time they get to the aircraft, to the airside, it is only one bus that will be there to convey them. By the time they get to the aircraft to distribute them, there is a delay. These are caused by the limitation of facilities,” Meggison said.
He added that the solution to this problem is the concession of the airports in “clear and transparent manner.”
“As far as I am concerned concession is not a bad idea if it is transparent. The concession will make Nigeria a hub, if it is transparent and clear. One of the ways to move forward is to concession the airport. If you give a private man to run this terminal building the man will make the airport Category 3 because he wants to maximise opportunities to make money. Can you imagine the number of planes that will be coming to Lagos to refuel if there is fuel? The man will make his money; the government will make its money through taxes. There will be more people that will be employed. It will end up being a win-win situation,” he said.
Also decrying the deficiencies of Nigerian airports, travel expert and the International Consultant to Calabar Carnival, Ikechi Uko said the flight cancellations and the closure of Calabar airport in December, 2016 during the Carnival cost the state government huge amount of funds to provide hotels, pay for no show on tickets to the numerous guests that travelled from overseas to experience the carnival.
He regretted that bad aviation facilities and management were responsible for the sudden closure of the airport because the management was not preemptive to inform concerned authorities about the harmattan haze and there was no navigational equipment that could enable airlines to operate at low visibility.
“For the future two things should be done. One, concerned agencies should provide prior information so that we can plan for the possible closure of the airport. Two, what are the instrument you should provide to the airports that suffer severe weather and why not provide them at this airport that generates revenues for FAAN and the federal government?”
He added that a country like Ethiopia, which has challenging topography, has the most active airports in Africa because the country was able to provide the necessary equipment at these airports.
“Ethiopia has much more deficient environment but it is able to put airports in those places. They have the most active airports in Africa, even more than South Africa,” Uko said.
THISDAY
