Aviation in Q1 2018: Mixed fortune for aviation
Blessing in disguise
The aviation industry in Nigeria in the first quarter 2018 can be described as mixed. Some policy direction and statements have elicited hopes that the sector could move in the right direction if the government puts a lot of commitment to some of the things it planned to achieve.
While many are losing hope very fast with the promise of floating a national airline, concessioning of some of the airports, Aerotropolis and others, there are indications that except the Ministry hasten things up, they may not achieve those laudable programmes that would have immensely contributed to increasing revenue in aviation sector while allowing government to take a back seat by engaging professionals to run things effectively.
Race against time
The government seems to be running against time to at least ensure that Nigeria gets a national airline and possibly conclude the concession deal. Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika has not done well by slowing down completion of the deals that would lead to the actualisation of these important projects.
The snail speed of action on them has made many to conclude that government may have after all tactically withdrawn from those projects. Both the media and the public are in the dark of the true position on this matter.
Just recently, Sirika, while fielding questions from journalists at the Lagos airport in February 2018 said, ““The transaction advisors for the concession have brought in the outline business case. We are studying it and we are going to do our full business case and it would happen so soon. “
On national carrier, the Minister, said, “At the time Nigeria was pushing for this you and I know we had Nigeria Airways and we thought we would take advantage of it. Now we don’t and our airlines for one reason or another have not grown to that capacity and this is why the government felt that we should set in motion to create a robust carrier that would take advantage of this SAATM for the benefit of the Nigerian people. “
He stated that the government was on the right course as it concerns national carrier and that he believes that this private sector led and driven airline once established would become the dominant carrier in Africa because the market is Nigeria’s.
Concrete action plan
First quarter of this year saw the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) come up with concrete action plan to tackle the encroachment and incursion of unauthorised persons to sensitive areas of the airfield with unproven allegat
ions that thieves open cargo compartments of taxiing aircraft after landing, particularly at the Lagos airport.
Worried by the negative publicity it generated, the agency swiftly moved to finding lasting solution to what allegedly caused embarrassment to the country by installing mobile Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at the airside of major airports across the country to monitor possible security breach and runway incursion.
The agency said that with the procurement of the mobile cameras and improvement on perimeter fencing patrol, the era of airport incursions by unscrupulous elements would be a thing of the past.
Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma said that the mobile CCTV cameras would cover a distance of seven kilometers and could sight even long distances at night.
Dunoma agreed that security had been the major challenge confronting the global aviation industry, stressing that as some of the challenges are being tackled, the perpetrators of the act also design new ways to beat security.
He, however, reiterated the readiness of the management to tackle the menace headlong by procuring latest security equipment at all airports.
His words, “To some extent, we have these facilities in all the airports, but security challenges always come up in different forms. If you address this challenge, the challenge will come back again in another form. So, the only way out is to improve on our technology. As we speak, there are things going on at Lagos and Abuja airports to make sure that we cover all the restricted areas with CCTV cameras.
AIB brings back missing mojo
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has brought back the spark and made many to begin to look at the sector with more respect. Never in the history of AIB since its creation few years ago has there been a vibrant Commissioner who has galvanised the work force to bring back the best in the agency.
Since the appointment of Akin Olateru as Commissioner, AIB, the agency has released over ten accident reports that had hitherto remained on the shelf for several years. There are plans to release six more before the end of the year, which would bring total number of accident reports released to the public to 16.
When he assumed duty, there were 27 pending reports that were gathering dust on the shelf, with some dating back to 2005.
Olateru said: “When I assumed duties, I did a review. We had 27 pending accident reports. Some date back to 2005 and we were in 2017. I was wondering what really went wrong. We set everything in motion. Funding was another problem.
“In carrying out accident investigation, you need a lot of resources – manpower and finance. We pushed everything in motion and through the support of the Minister of State for Aviation, he gave us maximum support and we did what we were supposed to do. To the glory of God, we released 11 reports by December 2017. One year, 10 final reports and one safety bulletin are some of the things we did last year.
Aero Contractors MRO facility
A great positive for the country is the first ever roll out of a Boeing 737-500 classic aircraft from the Aero Contractors MRO hangar after its successful C-Check by a team of engineers. Not a few applauded the airline for daring to do what others could not do.
With about 30 Boeing 737-500 classic aircraft on the fleet of most local airlines, the era of capital flight from the country to foreign MROs would end with the inauguration of the Aero Contractors MRO.
Without doubt, the losses, owing to the absence of an MRO in Nigeria, were monumental. The Boeing 737 aircraft forms the bulk of aircraft type operated by local airlines in Nigeria. In fact, experts attributed the collapse of the local airline industry to the exorbitant cost of maintaining aircraft abroad.
Last line
There is no doubt that the sector recorded some success, but there are still more work to do in order to take the industry out of the woods to one of prosperity which is very much achievable.
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