FAAN denies charging passengers N2, 000 per bag at MMIA

Aviation Nigeria

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN has denied reports that passengers are being charged N2, 000 per bag on arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to a statement by the FAAN General Manager Corporate Communications Yakubu Dati, “The charge does not apply to all passengers but to cargo agents who use passenger planes to transport their cargo- often times 20-30 pieces of luggage unaccompanied or accompanied by proxies.

“This fraudulent practice mounts untold pressure on our conveyor belts and short-changes FAAN of its much needed revenue. Cargo agents are well aware that all cargo must go through the designated cargo terminal where they go through laid down processes for safety and security procedures.

“The fact of the matter is that some passengers arrived with cargo which they should have passed as cargo through the cargo terminal and wanted to pass same as mere luggage and FAAN decided to charge them the cargo fee, which is a normal charge that was done with receipts.

Dati also stated that “We wish to stress that it was not the passengers’ luggage that was charged, but the cargo, as affected passengers arrived with average of eight bags of cargo. The passengers should have passed the cargo through the cargo terminal instead of coming with them”.

“It is also important to explain that the charge has always been in FAAN’s books but when the concessionaire, Pan Express Limited was ceded the power to collect cargo charges it was part of the charges the company was collecting but now FAAN has decided to collect the charges and there is no need mixing it up with luggage.

The Authority apologized to passengers who may have been affected by the procedure and also reiterated a warning to cargo agents “to desist from this unwholesome practice or face the full wrath of the law, as no form of blackmail will deter us from carrying out our mandate of providing services at internationally acceptable standards and practices”.

The Lagos International Airport

Aviation Nigeria

Guardian Editorial

THE relative improvement on facilities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos is worthy of acknowledgement, both as a welcome break from what was clearly an embarrassment to Nigeria, and as a measure of further improvement needed. An airport is a visitor’s first point of contact with a country and first opportunity to develop an opinion about that country. Airports are also a sort of display window through which countries portray themselves as worthy of any foreigner’s visit for leisure or business.

In the early 1960s, former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew, the man whose government transformed Singapore into the development miracle it is today, ordered a comprehensive beautification of the road that led to the nation’s airport. Trees and flowers were planted and hawkers removed. Lee Kwan Yew’s express intention was to portray Singaporeans as disciplined and hardworking people to visiting tourists and business people.

The attempt being made to reverse the neglect, which has made MMIA, by far the biggest entry point into Nigeria, an eyesore rather than a positive advertisement of the country’s ambitions or potentials should therefore be encouraged. The trouble with this modest effort is whether the renovation, which the Ministry of Aviation is carrying out at the airport, and 11 others in the country, will be sustained.

For most of the past 20 years, the state of the MMIA has largely been a reflection of the poor state of governance in Nigeria. Under Military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, the airport was like an airstrip in a high security garrison, a reflection of the siege the country was under. Soldiers and other security officers fiercely accosted visitors to the airport. This siege was lifted with the advent of democracy in 1999. But the airport for long remained dirty with malfunctioning conveyor belts, air conditioners and toilets. The terminals were shabby and overcrowded. Once in a while, travellers who had the misfortune of using the airport broke into tears in the humid arrival hall after an endless wait for their luggage.

The renovation by the Ministry of Aviation may be limited in scope, but it represents an uncharacteristic display of responsibility by a government agency. The airport’s deterioration was almost in proportion to the rise in Nigeria’s oil income and allocation to the Ministry of Aviation. The renovation undertaken from mid 2012 has seen the arrival and departure halls expanded and spruced up in terms of look and feel. The airport now looks far more befitting. The renovation, of course, could have been carried out with less obstruction to the movement of travellers and other activities but it is salutary that the Ministry of Aviation has at last been touched by the embarrassment of having the country’s major airport look like an unkempt provincial bus terminal.

There is still a lot to be done, for instance about the chaos outside the airport, which foretells the one inside. The car park has become choked and is also poorly maintained. Lawlessness rules as cars, most of them belonging to highly influential Nigerians, are still parked on the roads leading to the arrival and departure halls, seriously obstructing the flow of traffic. Certainly the airport authorities need to be stricter in enforcing traffic regulations.

Besides, there is need for policy consistency. Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Federal Government settled on a policy of developing and operating airports through Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Murtala Muhammed Airport Domestic Terminal Two was developed by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services under this policy. Has the Federal Government abandoned PPP as a means to develop the country’s aviation infrastructure and why, if this is the case? The current trend in aviation is to have airports developed and managed by private investors while governments focus on regulation and safety, areas in which Nigeria remain challenged severely. What is important is to embrace due diligence in choosing the partners. Brazil, a much richer country, in December 2012 announced a plan to attract $9.2 billion of private sector investment for the Rio Airport and 270 regional aerodromes under concession arrangements.

The renovation of airports by the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria/Ministry of Aviation has attracted its share of controversy with allegations of opaque procurement and poor design by aviation experts. The rationale of spending millions to upgrade financially unviable airports all over Nigeria is also suspect. The private sector is better skilled at undertaking the ministry’s proposed plan to incorporate revenue-generating facilities such as shopping malls at the airports as a means of enhancing their financial viability. The financial risk involved in these schemes is better left to private providers, including their banks or financiers, rather than allow a frittering of public funds with no one taking responsibility. Government should enhance the procurement process under which private developers are chosen, rather than abandon PPP as a policy option. Policy coordination and coherence in government is vital, to save public funds from being expended on projects that can be more efficiently and cost effectively undertaken through PPPs. The Brazilian example is quite instructive, in this connection.

Medview Flight makes Air Return minutes after take off in Lagos

Aviation Nigeria

A Medview aircraft, Boeing 737-400 with registration number 5N BPA from Lagos-Abuja-Yola made an air return to Lagos about 15 minutes after take-off after the pilot noticed a problem with an engine.

The Abuja-bound aircraft made a return to Lagos after one of its engines developed a mechanical fault mid-air.

The plane belonging to Med View Airline made the emergency return to the Lagos Airport.
According to a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Aviation Minister, Joe Obi, the plane had taken off at 12 noon on Sunday.

"The pilot of the aircraft who noticed a surge in one of the engines immediately applied the necessary safety precautionary measure by returning the aircraft to base.”

“The pilot made a safe and smooth landing while all passengers were successfully disembarked and subsequently transferred to another aircraft in the fleet, a 737-800. All passengers in the 737-800 were safely dropped at the two destinations-Abuja and Yola” it reads.

The airline recently commenced operations in November 2012. The plane, a Boeing 737-400 series marked 5N-BPA had 74 passengers on board, and the pilot explained he had to make a mid-air return when he heard a loud bang  at the engine side of the aircraft.

The incident has been described as a loss of thrust on engine.

Dana Air falsifies media reports of paying celebrities to board first flight.

Aviation Nigeria.

Dana Airlines has refuted some online reports of its financing celebrities Basket Mouth, DIPP, Harrysong and Buchi to board its first flight.

The artist where among the  which who were among the passengers that boarded the plane from the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, to Abuja, the nations capital, its first flight since resuming operations.

In a press statement released by the Dana Management on Monday 7 January 2012, Dana management pointed to these accusations as false and misleading.

The statement also read: "Like all other esteemed guests of the airline, many of which are notable personalities from Nigeria’s entertainment scene, these celebrities have always been a part of the Dana Air family. Their decision to be part of the airline’s re-launch was purely out of goodwill, having personally experienced the unrivaled hospitality and world-class services offered by the airline many times before."

The Dana Air inaugural flight was a Lagos to Abuja trip on Friday, 4th January, 2013 and is the first since the airlines plane crash in June 3 2012.

DANA Air resumes with 144 passengers on first flight.

Aviation Nigeria

A total of 144 passengers were on board Dana Air flights 353 and 354 from Lagos to Abuja and Abuja to Lagos respectively on Friday as the airline resumed flying seven months after one of its planes crashed in Lagos on June 3, 2012 killing over 160 people.

There were 62 passengers on the Lagos to Abuja flight while 82 came back to Lagos from Abuja.

The first flight, which departed the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2), Lagos at 10:10am, landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport (NAA), Abuja at 11:05am.

Speaking to journalists shortly after landing in Abuja, Dana’s Group Director, Mr. Francis Ogboro, assured the flying public of utmost safety in its entire operations.

Ogboro described the 2012 disaster in the Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos as unfortunate and maintained that the accident had necessitated its resolve to enhance the maintenance of its fleet.

He revealed that the airline may increase and change its fleet in the next six months, but added that MD83 aircraft was still in operation in major countries of the world including the United States of America (USA).

According him, “In the past six years that we commenced flight operations, we’ve never played with the maintenance of our aircraft and safety of the passengers and we will continue to do that to ensure that we give Nigerians a safe aircraft for our passengers to fly with. We are expanding our fleet.

“It is not impossible that we bring in some other aircraft types as well. Hopefully, in the next six months we will bring in some new aircraft, may be Boeing 737 or others. But I re-emphasise again, there is nothing wrong with the MD 83 aircraft.”

He also disclosed that the airline was considering collaborating with foreign investors who had indicated interest to partner with it.

On the two months deadline given the airline to complete payment of compensation to all the families of victims of the crash, Ogboro assured that the airline would meet the deadline, but explained that the payment of all compensation to the beneficiaries would not come from the airline, rather from the insurance companies.

Ogboro stated that all the passengers on board the crashed plane were properly insured by its insurance companies both at home and abroad and that the insurers had made adequate arrangement to pay all the families involved in the crash.

He disclosed that more than 90 per cent of the bereaved families had been compensated with the initial $30,000 compensation while about eight families have applied for the remaining $70,000 compensation as at two weeks ago.

In his words, “The payment of the insurance due to the families is not something that will come from Dana Air’s pocket. We are fully insured. I can assure you that our insurance companies led by Lloyds of London have made adequate arrangement to pay all the families involved in the crash”

A passenger, Mr. Charles Mbadon, said that though he was afraid initially, he soon overcame it when the aircraft took off at the airport in Lagos

Another passenger, Mr. Michael Babaniji, said that there was nothing like fear in his mind, adding that the June 3 incident was an accident that could have happened to any airline.

Comedian Bright Okpocha, aka Basketmouth, who was also on the flight said that he did not entertain any fear, adding that he is ready to fly Dana any time

Source : Daily Independent

Increased security at airports nationwide.

Aviation Nigeria

Tight security measures have been put in place in and around all Airports in the country in order to forestall any possible attack at the nation’s airports, even as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria , FAAN, has maintained that there were no security threats during the Christmas celebration.


Reports say there was unusual security surveillance on all roads leading in and out of the  Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Speaking to newsmen, the General Manager (Corporate Communications) of the FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said:

“The Federal Government, in its determination to ensure hitch-free holidays, has put all these measures in place at strategic locations, including airports, all over the country to forestall any form of security breach during this period.

“We consider this a positive step designed to complement FAAN’s effort at ensuring maximum safety and security of lives and properties at all our airports.
“The authority, therefore, encourages all passengers to leave their homes early so that the delays caused by these security checks will not hamper their pre-boarding formalities at the airport, especially in view of the expected increase in passenger movements, both on local and international flights during this festive period.”

Army spokesman, Bridadier General Mobolaji Koleoso, has also added that all security agencies have been put on 24-hour surveillance.

Portable runway lighting system installed at Lagos Airport

Aviation Nigeria

The reconstruction and re-modeling of airports nationwide has also enabled the installation of a temporary civil airfield lighting system (CALKIT) in the early hours of December 25, 2012.

The domestic runaway (18L/36R) at Lagos Airport which had last seen renovation five years ago will soon be enabled for night operations till a more permanent lighting system is installed.