Lagos, Abuja Airports Certification: FAAN Director Says Existing Gaps Are Being Closed
The Director of Airport Operations, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt. Abdullahi Mahmood says “on the issue of certification of our airports, most especially the Lagos and Abuja airport certification, this is still ongoing. The major challenge that we have, there are so many gaps that we found when we came in. We have seen the report from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, whereby these gaps need to be closed. I will tell you confidently today that most of the gaps that needed to be closed for the certification have already been closed.”
Speaking in a chat with journalists, Mahmood said “there are lots of misunderstanding. People are talking about all these excursions that we were having. Immediately we came in, what we did first of all was to have a schedule, and what we mean by a schedule, a schedule for the runway friction test, and derubberization. It is not every time that you just go and do derubberization on the runway, which is not how it works. Derubberization has a schedule and the schedule is based on the number of landings of an aircraft on a particular runway. Then now, you can use that to measure the frequency of the derubberization. Apart from the landing, also there is what we call the friction test. You normally do a friction test. Then, the friction test results will determine whether that runway needs derubberization or not. So, once you do a friction test and there is no derubberization required, its fine, but if derubberization is required, you do the derubberization. Then after, you do another friction test. So, you have the result of before and after. So since we came, we have had a schedule for all the runways in Nigeria as of today and we follow the schedule religiously. At any point in time, we can tell you which runway had a friction test and which runway is due for derubberization. We can tell you. So, we have that and we make it as a time plan, which is working perfectly for us.”
On the length of schedule, he said “it depends on the number of landings or aircraft on a runway. Based on the number of landings of aircraft, there are airports that you need to do the friction test every month. In some airports, you have to do it quarterly. Some airports, you have to do it biannually, because there are airports that do maybe just one flight a week. If you are doing one flight a week, definitely, probably, in the end, you can do derubberization maybe once in a year. You cannot compare that particular runway in a runway that you are having probably a hundred flights in a day. I want to make it very, very clear. When we they talk about excursions, people just put the cart before the horse. There are one thousand and one reasons that may cause excursions. What is the time of landing? What was the weather conditions? What was the weather condition? Was the runway wet? Was it windy? At what point did the pilot touch down? They all matter. Another thing is that the aircraft may have its issues. What if the aircraft doesn’t have an anti-skit? So, there are issues that we need to look at before talking about derubberization.”
Identifying challenges since assumption of office, Mahmood said: “As you know, in any challenge, you will always see an opportunity. One of the most significant challenges that we met on ground was the closure of Runway 18 Right at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. It is one of the significant runways that we have in Lagos, and you know Lagos is one of the prime airports in Nigeria today. When we came in, that runway was on the renovation, which was slated initially for six weeks. By then, the runway had already been overrun for eight months and was still closed. There were a lot of issues on the contractual terms or whatever is given on that particular runway. So we discussed it with the MD, and MD now pushed it over to the Minister, who as you know, is one person that will do whatever is needed to bring positive change to the aviation industry.”
Mahmood further said “So, we did everything possible to make sure that the runway was open, and put on the runway lighting. We then fixed the Link One that was closed also, which is a good thing. Now, we have two runways that are perfectly working in Lagos and also, we have so many other airports that have some challenges. As you are aware, last year, the Hajj operation was not done in Ilorin because of runway lighting. This time around, we made sure that we have the runway lighting operational in Ilorin and the Hajj Operation was successfully done in Ilorin. We have also ventured into looking at upgrading of facilities because there is so much decay in our facilities as we know. Some of the buildings have been there for 40 years, and when buildings have been there for that long, definitely you will just be doing a lot of palliative work. Although, the plan is to see that we remodel everything, but definitely, these things take time.”
It is not something that can be done overnight but because we have the backing of the Minister and the backing of the MD, whatever I need, I always get it,” he said, adding that “another challenge that we are having is our toilets. The toilets of the airport are appalling. So, now we ventured into looking at how to upgrade the whole toilets, most especially the five international airports that we have, and the work is still ongoing. On remodeling of toilets, very soon, Nigerians will see the new toilets that we are going to launch in all the terminals in Nigerian airports. That work is already ongoing.”
Mahmood also said that FAAN has a complete set of aircraft recovery equipment in Abuja. “This equipment is not the kind that you must have at every airport. It is very, very expensive equipment and it is not equipment that you just buy and put in a store. In some countries that have it, neighbouring countries, when they need it, they fly it down to remove aircraft. We have enough. We have a complete set and the operators are trained. They were in the Netherlands. They went to the UK for training. It is brand new equipment sitting down fully serviceable. As I am talking to you now, the Minister is in the process of buying another set, bringing it to Lagos. I have seen it. They have already started talking to the people and all the process of the purchase is already in the pipeline,” he stated.
Commenting on space constraints at the Lagos airport, Mahmood said: “Aviation is my constituency. I have been in aviation for a while. I am a pilot, because I still fly. Lagos is unfortunately, so choked up. So, sometimes, you find out that traffic is very heavy if you have more screening machines. The space to place the screening machine is not there because we still have like four or five screening machines lying down because there is nowhere to put them. So, are you going to pull down the whole building? At the end of the day, that is exactly what is going to happen. This is one of the biggest challenges that we have been discussing, deliberating, looking at from every angle, how we are going to mitigate this factor. We are working on this GAT Terminal to extend it. Then, now, we have the effect on our apron, which is a very big challenge to us because the apron is very small. Sometimes, if you go there at night, and see how aircraft are packed at that place, it is very worrisome.”
On the solution to this challenge, Mahmood said “there is a master plan, the airport master plan, which now they are seriously working on. The Minister wants to see this master plan so that we can sit down and now drive it. By the time we start driving it and effecting it, I think all these issues that we are looking at these challenges of space will be sorted out, and then, another option is that we are trying to leverage on some of our airports that have been underutilized to see how we can give airlines some incentives so that at least, we can pull out some of the airlines to those airports instead of having them and they are heavily underutilized. So, these are some of the options that we are looking at. If you can offer incentives to airlines and say, oh, if you go to a so-so airport, you land, this is what we are going to offer to you. This is to encourage the airlines to utilize those airports, so you can reduce the pressure on some of the major airports.”
He equally said that something was being done about the cannibalized aircraft occupying space at Lagos airport.
