FAAN designates 13 airports as cargo terminals

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN has designated 13 airports  as perishable cargo airports as strategies to transform the aviation sector into a major revenue earner for the country.

Th airports, based on expression of interest from the private sector and State governments, include Abuja, Akure, Calabar, Ilorin, Jalingo, Jos, Kano, Lagos, Makurdi, Minna, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Uyo.

According to a statement from the FAAN signed by Yakubu Datti, 'these airports which are in proximity to food baskets will be developed with international standard perishable cargo facilities to enhance their operations.'

State governments have also been encouraged to partner with the Federal government to revive smaller airports, particularly for taxi operations, tourism and cargo operations which could benefit domestic and regional economic development.

This is to enable them key into the over N250 billion annual air freight export market out of Africa. 

Countries like Kenya, South Africa, Benin, Cote d'ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Egypt are participating in the trading in commodities such as fruits, fresh fish, vegetables and flowers while Nigeria, which produces these produce in abundance, records zero participation.

The strategy is therefore to create the much needed storage infrastructure in view of the large volume involved and to facilitate the evacuation of agricultural produce to domestic markets, in conformity with international standards. 

The European Union (EU) is the main market for African exporters, accounting for more than 40% of total exports, followed by the US with 20%. Intra-regional trade represented only 8% of the total, with South Africa as the leading exporter to the region with 21% of the total.

In recent times, the more dynamic destinations for African products are China, with 27.5% annual average growth registered over a decade-long period and India, growing by 19.5% during the same period.

The development of Economic Free Trade and Export Processing Zones will be targeted alongside cargo airports and afro-allied industrial clusters, based on local opportunities and the state's competitive and comparative advantage in agriculture production. 

The Nigerian aviation sector is establishing closer co-operation with Federal Ministry of Agriculture and State Governments for concerted and strategic focus to this efforts.

IATA sets agenda for cooperation between airlines and airports

 

                                     Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for a unified agenda between airlines and airports to address the mutual challenges of growth and sustainability. “Airports are airlines’ closest partners. Neither of us could exist without the other,” said Tony Tyler, IATA Director General and CEO.

Speaking at the Airports Council International (ACI) Europe / World Annual Congress and Exhibition in Istanbul, Tyler noted that major investments in infrastructure will be needed to meet the global demand for air connectivity which is growing at about 5% annually.

Meeting these requirements efficiently will require close cooperation. Over the long term, airline profit margins have been insufficient to cover their cost of capital and this also has been the case for some airports. “Neither partner can afford poorly-thought out and overly expensive infrastructure development. To avoid this, we must work together in a collaborative process based upon the basic principles laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which include consultation with airport users, transparency, non-discrimination, cost-based charges, and strict safeguards on pre-financing of future infrastructure,” said Tyler.

Tyler also cautioned that “decades of practical experience and longstanding and credible economic theory have shown that most airports have substantial market power. Strong independent regulation is required to provide the cost discipline that otherwise would be imposed by the free market. And the ICAO principles offer sufficient flexibility for regulators to apply various levels of economic oversight where market forces do exist.”

Tyler proposed a unified agenda and partnership between airlines and airports based on:

• A mutual understanding that long-term sustainability is an issue for both airlines and airports
• Recognition that the solution to our common challenges is not to take each other in an Anaconda-like grip to squeeze out every last penny from one another
• Working together to help airports find mutually beneficial efficiencies
• Removing capacity constraints, particularly in Europe where 98 airports have insufficient capacity and require slot coordination
• Seeking opportunities for cooperation to enable process improvements and new value added commercial opportunities such as through providing universal access to Wi-Fi
• Scoping out potential for joint business development.

“An agenda of cooperation does not mean that we will agree in every specific instance. But it does mean that we recognize we will achieve far more together than each could on our own,” said Tyler.

A template for cooperation is found in the approach to safety and security which are aviation’s top priorities. Two key airport safety initiatives are the result of close collaboration between IATA, ACI and others, including regulators: the Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit and the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations. Airports are also working with airlines and regulators in the development of a Checkpoint of the Future to make airport security more efficient while reducing hassle for passengers.

Nigerian Pilots and swollen ego

 

Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah

By Ayodele Ojo

The Yoruba proverb which says, “Ti ewe ba pe lara ose, a ma do’se” loosely translated to mean, “when a leave is used to wrap a bar of soap for long, it becomes foamy” aptly captures the current atmosphere of political mudslinging reigning in the aviation sector in recent weeks, such that pilots that chauffeur VIPs in the air have managed to raise dust of political misgivings to high heavens, such that every action or inaction is termed “political vindictiveness”,  even while pilots operate against the rules and regulations governing aviation operations. This is happening for the second time in as short a time, and the culprits are being allowed to get away with it.

It seems the Nigerian pilots have grabbed or attracted political insulation and immunity to themselves by virtue of transporting political heavyweights around the country. They  have managed to convert errors to bragging rights, so much that simple instructions by Air Traffic Controllers  are simply parried, glossed over or ignored outrightly, because of their association with the political bigwigs onboard their aircraft. The brouhaha over the issue of grounding of aircraft is becoming one too many and needs be examined closely.

In the first instance, the aircraft belonging to Rivers State Government was grounded by the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), based on the fact that the manifest was not filed as and when due, but attention was focused on the issue of the troubles in PDP and a perceived grouse between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan. The second crisis came just last Friday when the pilot manning the chattered OAS chopper of the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole decided that it was no longer essential to have a flight plan when flying VIPs, neither was it necessary to have a manifesto.

While it is easy to shift the blame on political games, nobody bother to look inwards, at the little foxes that spoil the vineyard. The expatriate pilots flying in the Nigeria airspace are the little foxes spoiling the vineyard, and the ones flying non-scheduled flights seem to have developed big egos, commensurate with the height attained by their aircraft, or is it their aircraft wings, how can it be explained that pilots who fly “their excellencies” automatically have been bestowed with diplomatic immunity from abiding by aviation regulations, as against those who fly scheduled routes.

A pilot that is supposed to be the best example in self discipline and humility, considering the delicate nature of their jobs, have become so arrogant in recent times that they are now the new ‘untouchables”. Even if the special passengers onboard are ignorant of the law, the onus is on our VIP pilots to let “their excellencies” know that the issues of “manifest and flight plans” that have been bloated out of proportion in recent times are merely ‘procedural’, and is without sentiment or vindictiveness.

If the pilots have managed to get away with by-passing such orders in the past, it is a shame, and it shows the level that our standards had fallen to, but must it continue?  You cannot live in sin and ask for abounding grace. Every culprit pilot should be made to pay a penalty that will not create a political storm.

The aviation sector is strictly guarded by rules which must be strictly adhered to, and it is not a matter of Nigerian laws, but international standards which make the sector one of the most peculiar worldwide. The fact that a VIP is onboard does not make an aircraft less vulnerable to air glitches, and aircraft can be unforgiving when any protocol are by-passed, so it is beyond political name-calling and rhetoric.

Captain James Manahash, a Korean who decided to by-pass the procedure on Friday will definitely not consider himself a super hero if he was flying ordinary citizens from a jungle to the Sahel, and excuses will not be given, if he was flying a commercial aircraft that operates a scheduled route without filing a flight plan or submitting the manifest, a simple procedure that is in operation in our local inter-city parks and is strictly adhered to.

Neither will a Nigerian pilot operating outside the shores of Nigeria be allowed to abrogate such powers. The time is ripe when defaulting pilots ought to be given harsh sanctions that will not rub off on their VIP passengers. If a pilot realizes that there are punitive measures in place that can affect his daily bread, he will definitely toe the line.

The National Assembly ought to wade into the matter and make laws that will check the impunity of our pilots whose ego are bigger than the wings of their aircraft. The dearth of local pilots does not mean expatriate pilots are ‘tin gods’ to themselves, after all ,“what is good for the goose is good for the gander”.

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has strict rules guiding the mode of operations of both pilots and all that operate both within and outside the aerodrome, and it does not include answering a simple request for a flight plan and manifest with a puffed up reply, “his Excellency is on board”. It is not excuse-able for a pilot not to do the right thing even when they ferry VIPs in the air.

When we put our house in order, expatriate pilots will not feel that they are above the law, if Nigeria Civil Aviation Agency is empowered to seize flight certificates of erring pilots for a number of weeks, or sanction erring airlines, a bit of sanity will return to the aviation industry. Accusation of witch hunting of political opponents will not exist, and political jobbers will simply look for new excuses outside the aviation industry to play out their games.

The aviation sector is not meant for political mudslinging and witch hunting. Let’s investigate thoroughly the instances of such abuses before more havoc is done to the fragile industry, and grant the aviation sector a reprieve from the altar of political crucifixion.

Ayodele Ojo, writes from Lagos.