Category: Aviation

This year, aviation is expected to hold the key to the nation’s economic potential, if a conducive environment is created, say stakeholders. They say the government must address infrastructure and privatisation of airport terminals as well as evolve workable strategies to recover huge debts owed aviation agencies, reports, KELVIN OSA- OKUNBOR.

There is aviation heading for in 2016? This is the question many industry players and stakeholders have continued to ask.

This has even become  more worrisome, as aviation is now a sub-sector in the Ministry of Transportation.

But the merger of Aviation with Transportation, according to some  observers, should not be considered a stumbling block, given the pedigree of former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi and Captain Hadi Sirika; a pilot, appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to oversee the ministry.

Amaechi and Sirika last month embarked on  an industry-wide tour to ascertain the challenges of the sector to design appropriate strategies to fix its many troubles. However, the tour, it was learnt, might have provided more questions than answers on how to go about addressing the issues.

The absence of  a master plan  has provoked many questions on how far the ministers can go in the year in tackling the myriad of challenges  the industry is grappling with.

Stakeholders reason that 2016 presents another ample opportunity for government to fix the many challenges in the strategic sector if it must make significant contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The solution lies  on the creation of the right environment to attract private and foreign investments into the sector.

 

Airport Security

 

If the government must embark on any project this year , it must as a matter of urgency tackle issues bordering on airport security , in particular provision of necessary tools for personnel at airports nationwide.

According to an aviation security expert , Group Captain John Ojikutu ( rtd), Amaechi and Sirika must focus in securing the airports against unlawful interference by ensuring that the right personnel and tools, as well as training must be given to Aviation Security Personnel belonging to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

The Minister he said, must address access control and management at the airports by streamlining the number of security agents at the airports and well define the line of authority.

He said: ”The Minister must carry out review of the airport security architecture to define which agency is in charge of access control, whether it is FAAN, the Police, Air Force or others? This has  to be properly define.”

He also called on the Minister to as a matter of urgency consider completion of on going and the abandoned airport perimeter and security fencing. Failure to do this he said, could spell disaster for the industry in the face of rising incidence of threats to air safety.

 

Aviation fuel supply

 

The circumstances surrounding the supply of aviation fuel, otherwise known as Jet A 1, to the Murtala Muhammed Airport has in recent times come under  intense scrutiny. Scores of fuel trucks with content, queue on the Airport Road disrupting the  flow of vehicular traffic.

Some security experts have advised the relocation of the fuel trucks out of the busy road as any explosion could lead to massive loss of lives and critical infrastructure. Experts advise that fixing the fuel hydrants around the airport connected to the Mosimi Pipelines would promote safety .

 

Infrastructure

 

In 2016, experts say the Ministry of Transportation should focus on massive airport and air navigation upgrade to close the gap of obsolete and ageing infrastructure that have dogged the sector for many years .

In particular, they urge Amaechi and Sirika to ensure that ongoing airport remodelling projects are completed rather than embarking on new ones.

Of significance, according to industry watchers, is the completion of the five international airport terminals being constructed in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu. Completing these projects, they say, would result in the upgrade of  airport facilities and enhance capacity at the terminals.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the new terminal is expected to increase passenger capacity from 15 million to over 30 million.

In 2016, experts expect the government to fix epileptic power supply that has turned an embarrassment at the nation’s premier airport in Lagos. Towards this end, industry watchers say Amaechi must ensure that FAAN prioritises its expenditure on capital projects by completing the Lagos Airport Power Improvement Project, expected to cost an estimated  N400 million.

The airport authority should also fix another sore point at the Lagos Airport – the epileptic air conditioning system. The project is estimated to gulp over N900 million.

Amaechi, it was learnt, has given marching orders to FAAN to fix this facility. In fact, the authority has been given six months to fix the air conditioning system .

 

Debt Recovery

 

If the Ministry of Transportation will deliver on its many promises for the year, it must put measures in place to recover billions of naira owed aviation agencies by airlines, both  domestic and foreign carriers  as well as concessionaires.

Of particular interest is the reluctance of domestic carriers to remit the five pecent ticket and cargo sales  charge they have collected on behalf of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA). Airlines owe the authority over N6 billion from ticket sales charge.

The Ministry should ensure that there are no sacred cows in recovering the debts, especially the billions of Naira owed Federal  Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) from landing and parking and en route terminal navigational charges.

 

Airport land lease

 

Stakeholders expect the government to put policies in place to attract private sector investment . Such investment would require a review of conditions tied to the lease of land around the airports, which many players say is not only frustrating, but a disincentive to investors.

In an interview, the Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, said if the government wanted accelerated development of the sector, it must urge FAAN to review its prohibitive charges on lease of airport land for domestic carriers that want to set up aircraft maintenance hangar.

Onyema said the arrangement where FAAN expects a domestic airline to pay hundreds of millions for lease of airport land for a few years, is a wrong model of how to attract investment into the aviation sector.

Other airlines, including Arik Air and Skyways Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL ),   have also accused the airport authority of not leasing its land at the Lagos Airport . The  out-going Chief Executive Officer of SAHCOL, Mr Olu Owolabi urged Ameachi to look into this matter seriously.

If the government intends to use aviation as a window to attract investors in the year, Amaechi must review existing lease conditions to acquire land around the airports nationwide to expand the industry.

 

Concession /privatisation template

 

Chairman of Bi – Courtney Aviation Services Limited, Dr Wale Babalakin, said zoning the airports into pairs should be exploited by the government to make them for efficient for passenger facilitation.

He said what the government should do beginning from this year  is to turn around the airports for thirty months before preparing them for private sector intervention .

He also advised the government to divide the nation’s airports into four zones, comprising Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt before offering them to interested concessionaires, adding that each zone should then be made responsible for the growth of all airports within its jurisdiction.

Former President of Aviation Roundtable , Captain Dele Ore, said privatisation option of the airport terminals should be priority in the year, insisting the security at such airports should remain the responsibility of the government .

 

Training and manpower development

 

One of the major areas stakeholders say government should focus  is enhanced training and re- training of technical personnel in the aviation sector.

These, stakeholders say, should focus on inadequate technical personnel and requisite training in  aircraft inspectors, airworthiness engineers as well as accident investigators, among other key technical personnel.

Towards this end, Amaechi and Sirika  must ensure that training capacity at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria, Kaduna State is improved to reduce capital flight to overseas training centres.

The Minister should request details of plans to set up aircraft simulator centres in Lagos by NCAT, for which huge sums of money have been sunk by government.

 

Civil aviation regulations /state airports

 

Ameachi should take a critical look at effectiveness of oversight responsibilities by the NCAA, which some industry players have described as spineless .

The agency, the industry watchers say, is not on top of its game in regulating other aviation agencies as well as alleged sloppy regulation of operators of state airports .

The experts cited the infraction at the Bauchi Airport, when passengers disembarked from an Aero Boeing 737-500 aircraft using a ladder .

While the NCAA sanctioned the pilot of the aircraft and the airline , the authority is yet to make public the sanction to the airport operator.

 

Amaechi’s promise

 

Meanwhile, Amaechi appears to be aware of the enormity of the task ahead overseeing the transportation ministry .

After a tour of facilities at the Lagos Airport , last month, he declared :” Having  toured the various parastatals and agencies; the enormity of the tasks ahead has become much clearer.

“The aviation industry in Nigeria has not been without its peculiar problems. The Ministry of Transportation in collaboration with relevant parastatals and agencies have drawn up short term plans.

“The medium and long term plans will require significant investments to upgrade and expand infrastructures to meet current and future requirements.

“As a result of limited resources for capital projects development, government is exploring the possibility of private sector participation to towards the realisation of the industries’potential.

“Operators  and service providers must operate within the ambit of Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations International Civil Aviation Organisation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS), or face the full wrath of the law and extant regulations.

He said efforts would be re-doubled towards the recovery of debts owed to the Ministry and all its parastatals and agencies to mitigate the effects of dwindling resources.

He said the ministry, through its regulatory agencies, would ensure strict compliance with all laws and regulations, stressing that there would be  no sacred cows.

It was a year full of dreams in aviation. There were cases of attempted stowaways and disembarkment from an aircraft with a ladder, reports KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR.

For aviation, this year has been a year of missed targets

Aviation agencies failed to complete critical projects,  such as airport terminals, airport perimeter fencing and other projects which have gulped billions of naira.

The agencies are still struggling to recover huge debts from epileptic domestic carriers, concessionaires, ground handling companies and other operators at airports nationwide.

Also an army of unemployed young  indigenous pilots struggled to meet unrealistic flight hours  requirements set by airlines befor they can be employed.

Meanwhile, foreign pilots and aircraft engineers dominate the cockpit of aircraft that criss cross airspace.

These twists and turns , intrigues and  controversies present a mixed bag  for the sector’s appraisal in the year under review.

 

Safety and security

 

The industry was in the news for the wrong reasons in 2015 because of urgly developments bordering on air safety and security, especially recurring incident of stowaways.

Apart from the reported cases of attempted stowaways  at the airside of the Lagos Airport, porous perimeter fencing remains sore points around airports nationwide.

The ugly development has brought to the fore the need to complete the fencing of airports nationwide as their continued porosity creates loopholes for unauthorised access  by unauthoried persons into restricted areas around the airports.

At the Lagos airport in the last few months, three cases of stowaways were reported.

Despite their increasing recurrence , the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN ) insists it has adopted measures in place to improve airside patron to safeguard the airports against unlawful interference by unauthorised persons .

Also in the year, domestic airlines reported rising incidence of air returns, which according to experts is enough indication that pilots are adhering to safety emergency procedures.

At the domestic wing of the airport many airlines, both domestic and foreign were involved in airside incidence resulting in near on -the – ground collision.

This unsafe practice  has called to question the integrity of professionals saddled with the task of managing the apron and the tarmac.

There were reported cases involving First Nation Airways, Hak Air and Emirates and other carriers .

Experts have canvassed the need to provide more space at the apron to enable taxing and parked aircraft have more space for maneuvering.

Aviation security expert, Group Captain John Ojikutu ( Rtd), has consistently called on the airport authority to urgently address security and perimeter fencing of airports nationwide.

He said failure to address this would make the airports porous and vulnerable to any breach by unauthorised persons.

But, not much was achieved in this area in the period under review.

This appraisal will not be complete without the mention of the incident involving Aero Airlines on December 19, 2015 at Bauchi Airport when 34 passengers on a chartered Boeing 737-500 disembarked from the aircraft using an unauthorised equipment – a ladder.

The ‘ladder model’ as some industry watchers put it could be described as the greatest affront to air safety  by any airline.

Though, the  management of Aero has adduced pressure by passengers as the reason why it allowed the use of ladder to disembark passengers, industry watchers say the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority ( NCAA) is not doing enough in its oversight of the industry.

Meanwhile, the NCAA has sanctioned the airline and the pilot that authorised the unsafe practice.

Speaking in an interview, the managing director of one of the ground handling companies, Mr Olu Owolabi, said it is time the NCAA rose to the occasion by ensuring all airports whether publicly or privately run comply with the minimum standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation ( ICAO).

He said it is wrong for any airline or airport authority to usurp the role of ground handling or engage in self handling as doing so has its attendant effects on safety and security.

The Aero incident as many industry watchers have put it, has exposed the underbelly of aviation safety and security in Nigerian airports.

The incident they say, has also embarrassed Nigeria in the comity of global aviation.

 

Infrastructure and

operational equipment

 

In the year under review,  not much was achieved in the area of airport infrastructure and operational equipment.

The status of airport remodeling initiated during the last administration is still a subject of intense debate and controversies.

The pace of work at some of the terminals have raised more questions than answers as controversies still surround the entire costs, scope of work and identify contractors handling the projects.

Some industry watchers continue to query the quality of the work done at some of the terminals, which they allege calls for serious probe.

Work at the five international airport terminals being constructed with over $500 million loan from the Chinese Exim Bank is on going, but there is however serious doubt if the contractors would deliver at the  agreed timeline for the projects.

What is however disturbing is how the airport authority hopes to fix many sore points at terminals nationwide with the limited funds at its disposal either from budgetary sources or internally generated revenue.

In particular, the epileptic power supply situation and poor air conditions system  at the Lagos International Airport, have become a huge source of global embarrassment .

In the year under review, FAAN could not raise the over N900 million needed for complete replacement of the air conditioning system at the Lagos Airport.

The authority also needed huge sums to fix the epileptic power supply into the Lagos Airport.

The slow pace of construction of the domestic terminal at the Port Harcourt Airport remains one of the sore points in appraisal of airport infrastructure in the year under review.

However, a few strides were recorded in the year as government completed and commissioned the control tower of the Kano International Airport.

The tower completion also offered a window to integrate it into the total radar coverage of Nigerian airspace.

In the period under review, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ( NAMA) completed its electronic aircraft clearance procedure which saves time for airlines and the agency.

 

 Manpower development / National Carrier

 

In the period under review, issues of manpower development and the need to establish a national carrier were in the burner.

Earlier in the year, government directed all foreign carriers operating into Nigeria to have onboard their cockpit an indigenous pilot and aircraft engineer as part of efforts to provide jobs for professionals.

This singular directive received commendation from players in the sector, as a bold attempt by government to assist indigenous professionals.

Investigations revealed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has been monitoring the implementation.

What has however remained topical is the desire to have a national airline or carrier, which would assist Nigeria to correct the lopsidedness in the bilateral air services agreement it signed with over 73 countries in the world.

Though, the committee set up to fashion modalities for the setting up of the airline has submitted its report to government, industry watchers however remain divided over the desirability of a national airline.

Speaking in an interview, the managing director of Arik Air , Mr Chris Ndulue, said it is better for government to assist existing carriers rather than setting up a new national airline.

A national airline, he said, may not solve the problem of the industry.

But, other experts including, former spokesman of Nigeria Airways Limited, Mr Chris Aligbe, said setting up a national airline is the way to go.

 

State of domestic

airlines

 

Domestic carriers have had their fair share of triumphs and challenges in the year.

In the year, First Nation Airways joined the league of indigenous carriers to be enlisted in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) registry as certified carriers.

With the enlisting, the airline upped its ante in safety and technical operations certification among global carriers.

This is just as other carriers Medview Airlines,  Air Peace and DANA Air are putting measures in place to scale through their IATA certification.

In terms of operational capacity, the stakes were raised  as two domestic carriers: Medview and DANA Air joined others on the Lagos – Accra route to step up competition.

In the period under review, Medview Airlines also praised operations on the Lagos – London, Abuja – Kano – Jeddah route.

This indeed is one of the high points for the airline in the year.

Unfortunately, 2015 witnessed hard times for some domestic carriers including Discovery Air, which stopped operations due to financial and technical challenges.

In the period under review, IRS Airlines failed to recommence operations after one of its aircraft has technical problems on return from overseas maintenance.

Airline operators say 2015 presented the most challenging year in terms of rise in operating costs , as the oscillating price of aviation fuel, huge offshore cost of aircraft maintenance , inability to access the official window to procure foreign exchange , multiple charges and others combined to make the operating environment harsher.

 

Foreign carriers policy on Nigerians

 

Although few foreign carriers employ Nigerians, but the terms of their engagement remains a subject of intense debate  because of the shabby way.

Nigerian employees are treated by some foreign carriers.

A few months ago, British carrier – Virgin Atlantic Airways sacked some Nigerian cabin crew on the Lagos – London route  for reasons that border on the absurd.

The airline said: “We have decided that we will no longer have crew based in Lagos. This is by no means a reflection on our locally based cabin crew, the primary purpose of our locally based cabin crew has been to provide cultural expertise, and customer feedback has shown us that this is no longer a requirement on the Lagos route. The additional complexity required to operate an international crew base where there are no foreign language requirement means it is no longer sustainable going forward.”

Aviation unions and interest groups have vowed to call the airline to order as what it has done is the greatest insult to Nigerian aviation in 2015.

Legal fireworks are on going to resolve this issue, which according to aviation analysts is one of the downsides of the industry in 2015.

Appointment of Pilot as aviation minister

If nothing was achieved in aviation in 2015, industry think tank group : Aviation Roundtable say is the appointment of a pilot: Hadi Sirika as minister in charge of aviation , under the transport ministry.

According to the President of the Roundtable, Mr Gbenga Olowo the appointment of a pilot, an industry professional laid to rest agitation among industry groups for the appointment of a minister with knowledge of the sector.

Many industry players say the greatest achievement of 2015 is the merger of aviation with the ministry of transport.