Poor facilities, high fees impede Nigeria’s aviation

Poor infrastructure ranging from bad airfield lightings, poor navigation equipment, uneven runways and others, have been listed as the bane of the aviation sector in Nigeria.

Experts who spoke to Woleshadarenews regretted that poor facilities at the aerodromes have limited and stunted air traffic, calling on the Federal Government to invest heavily on infrastructure, especially navigational aids.

Former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), advocated that Nigerian financial institutions should be strengthened through PPP to enable them serve the country’s aviation sector.

To this end, he appealed to the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to come to the aid of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in the acquisition of navigational tools to ensure airspace safety.

Ojikutu, in a letter to the minister, said he was worried about the myriads of problems bedevilling the sector, ranging from scarcity of aviation fuel and foreign exchange, airlines’ recurring debts, problem of inclement weather occasioned by harmattan haze, which he said has reduced visibility for pilots and poor navigational aids at virtually all the aerodromes across the country.

His words: “These are not natural phenomenon, but man-made. Why should the major airports known to have been installed with Category II Instrument Landing System (ILS) remain closed to commercial flights because of 300 meter visibility if they were or had been regularly calibrated according to the NCARs and the NAMA operational standards and procedures?”

This came against the backdrop of calls by airlines for the upgrade of the ILS facilities to Category three (CAT III).

The carriers noted that the relevant agencies need to invest in modern navigation aids and runway lights so that “we don’t have to come back again next year complaining about the same thing as we have done for so many decades.”

AON Chairman, Capt. Nogie Meggison, decried the situation and described it as appalling. Also, the planned concession of airports might be a way forward, provided it is transparent and with a clear agenda as the concessionaire would make sure these landing aids are in place,” Meggison said.

Meggison expressed disappointment and displeasure at the deplorable state of navigational aids at airports around the country, which he said makes flying in the Nigerian airspace virtually impossible during the harmattan season, thereby increasing the sufferings of passengers and disrupting their plans for the yuletide season due to flight cancellations.

He noted that exactly 48 years on December 28, 1968, the first aircraft operated at CAT III and landed in zero visibility at Heathrow airport, yet Nigeria is unable to land aircraft with visibility of about 800m.

He disclosed that most international and local flights had to be diverted to Cotounu, which he said was rather unfortunate.

The issue of the harmattan haze is a yearly occurrence as Nigeria has mainly rainy (thunderstorms) and dry seasons (harmattan).

Former President, Aviation Round Table (ART), Capt Dele Ore, said 21 private airlines in Nigeria provide jobs for regular 12,240 people and 17,760 others, adding that over 90 per cent of air travel in Nigeria was business-driven, lamenting that high cost of aviation fuel, rents and other taxes had scared people from air travel.

“Nigeria is the only country in the world where aviation kerosene, otherwise known as JET A1, is more expensive than premium motor spirit (PMS).

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) rent for a square metre is the most expensive worldwide. The same goes for Value Added Tax (VAT).

Nigeria is the only country in the world that charges VAT on air travel. European airlines’ capital flight out of Nigeria is over $650 million yearly,” he said.