‘Our major plan is to fix decaying airport infrastructure, masterplan’
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku said the immediate plans of the agency is to start with minor modifications and maintenance policies of many of the decaying airports’ infrastructure.
These immediate plans according to her involve things like lighting in the airports, and resuscitation of the airport cooling system to start working immediately noting that the inheritance of decaying infrastructure by the President Tinubu administration should not be an excuse to fix many of the broken down infrastructure.
Speaking to Aviation Metric at the weekend at the launch of British Airways refurbished premium lounge in partnership with SDS Lounge Group at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Kuku said the focus is on a master plan within the airport environment that can be followed.
She disclosed that the agency is embarking on immediate rehabilitation in one wing of the Lagos International Airport terminal and completely overhauling the other wing of the same terminal, stressing that doing so gives a bit of relief where passengers will have easy access while FAAN focuses on the needed overhaul.
She said, “I do want to say very quickly that yes we inherited ageing and decaying infrastructure but that’s still not an excuse. Our immediate plans are to start with minor modifications, we need to start with the maintenance policy first and we need to make sure that very simple things like lighting in our airports, and the cooling system will start to work effectively.”
“I also want to say that without rushing to the press our focus is on a master plan within the airport environment that we can follow. For Lagos airport as a whole, Lagos serves as the gateway for the majority of our passengers that are coming into Nigeria, followed by Abuja, we are doing some work around our domestic terminals as we speak, with the international terminal for Lagos as we speak we are looking to quickly do some immediate rehabilitations in one wing of the airport and then a major overhaul in the other wing.”
Appraising one year of the current administration and its impact on aviation, the FAAN boss they’re a couple of things that stakeholders in the industry need to provide.
“I spoke about customer experience being a priority. I spoke about the modernisation of the industry; it’s not just about putting infrastructure in place but putting infrastructure that aligns with what is happening globally. We have a flight information display system that will be installed at our airport soon. We have additional e-gates that we are looking to add.”
“We are also looking to integrate the data with that of the DSS and the watch list that they have as well. I think the second is around the performance of the airlines. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) along with their consumer protection agencies are supporting that. We are putting more information, more awareness out so that people understand what their rights are.”
“We are also pleading with our passengers to also manage themselves within the airport environment, there are rules and laws that they need to abide by so that we will understand what we need to do from our end.”
Speaking on the newly refurbished British Airways’ lounge said the British carrier’s partnership with SDS Lounge Group demonstrates the development that British Airways is bringing to Nigeria and more importantly in line with, “Our guidelines for customer experience being a priority.”
“I walked around the lounge and I asked very simple questions of which I got very remarkable answers. A lot of the work that was done in the lounge today was done in collaboration with Nigerian entrepreneurs. You heard about the collaboration with the gallery, a lot of the woodwork, the furniture are all using Nigerian entrepreneurs so they make me proud.”
“I also looked at the cuisine that they are serving as well as the experience. There are very few things that are important to us, each area has a charging section, there are rest areas, and wheelchair accessibility, as well as making sure that passengers with disabilities are catered for.
Kuku
“I do notice that they also have a rest area as well as showers. I will definitely that this experience is comparable to all global locations where British Airways has a first-class lounge. I’m extremely proud of them and I’m hoping that we see more collaboration and better expansion as we go along,” she added.
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