Four new international airports terminals in Nigeria.

The Federal Government has commenced the process for the development of four new international airports terminals in Nigeria.

Making this disclosure in Abuja was the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, during a ministerial press briefing tagged '365 days of Aviation Sector Transformation.'

Oduah, in a statement signed by her Special Assistant, Media, Mr Joe Obi, stated that the airports would be sited in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano States.

She, however, did not state when the airport projects would commence fully, but assured that the government would provide the airports soon.

On security at the airports, Oduah explained that the ministry in the last one year had introduced new security strategies designed to adequately respond to current security challenges in the country.

For instance, she mentioned the restructuring of the airport security systems, which she said has facilitated communication, coordination, Intelligence gathering and surveillance through linkages and collaboration with International, Federal and State law enforcement agencies in all the airports.

...AVIATORS

NDLEA arrests Mother of 6!!!

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a mother of six, identified as Mrs Adaba Onitemi, who ingested 839 grams of substance believed to be cocaine, valued at about N10 million, at the Port Harcourt International Airport.

Mrs Onitemi, 54 and a widow was arrested while attempting to board a London-bound Lufthansa Airline, following suspicion by operatives of the NDLEA at the Airport about 8:30p.m on May 23.

NDLEA Commander, Port Harcourt International Airport, Olutekunbi Davies, who disclosed this to journalists on Wednesday, said the suspect was taken to the military hospital in the state capital where she was found to have ingested the substance.

"On May 23, 2012, at about 8:30p.m, a female drug suspect, Mrs Adaba Sekinatu Onitemi, 54, was arrested while attempting to board a Lufthansa Airline on her way to London via Frankfurt.

"She was taken to Military Hospital Port Harcourt where the X-ray scanner used on her proved positive for ingestion of substances suspected to be cocaine. She has since then excreted 58 wraps weighing 839grammes," Davies said.

Brought to you by:
AVIATORS MAGAZINE...for the world traveller.
www.aviatorsmagazineng.com
Follow on us twitter@aviatorsmag

Knocks for GEJ in Aviation

Contrary to the scorecard President Goodluck Jonathan gave his administration while marking his one year in office on Tuesday, the President of Aviation Round Table (ART), a non-governmental body, Captain Dele Ore, has given the president thumbs down on his performance in the aviation sector, saying that the last 365 days has not recoded any notable achievement.

Speaking in Lagos, Captain Ore took a swipe at the president on the ground that rather than move the industry forward, the activities of the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, had drawn back the hand of progress for the industry.

To Captain Ore, the only thing that was achieved in the sector in the last one year was mere consolidation of past gains put in place in by erstwhile ministers of aviation.

He said some of the "embarrassments" witnessed in the aviation sector were the remodelling of 11 airports in the first phase by the minister, which he described as cosmetics and the handing over of some of the functions of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).


Brought to you by:
AVIATORS MAGAZINE...for the world traveller.
www.aviatorsmagazineng.com
Follow us on twitter@aviatorsmag

Chinese to build state-of-the-art terminals

Federal Government and Chinese investors have reached an agreement for the latter to build state-of-the-art terminals at four major airports in Nigeria, including Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt (in Rivers State).

The projects, are planned to be completed before the end of this administration. The terminals would not only meet international standards but also rival the best in the world, according to a source, who disclosed this to AVIATORS.

Although the terms of agreement reached between the FG and the investors are not yet made public, but a reliable source said that it would be on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, so "they are going to provide all the funds needed for the project under private, public partnership (PPP)".

The deal was said to have been signed by the Minister of Finance, Dr (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on behalf of the Federal Government, and the project is expected to kick off soon.

The four airports where the terminals are designated are the busiest in the country and with the growth of passenger movement in air transport in Nigeria, the existing terminals, industry experts say, would soon be too small for the teeming passengers especially on international destinations.

The source said, "Chinese investors have indicated interest to invest in our airports and they are going to build four terminals at the airports in Kano, Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The Minister of Finance has signed the contract and it will take off soon. That is a good development for our airports.

Culled from Aviators Magazine

Raising the bar in airport facilities

Raising the bar in airport facilities as new terminals beckon

Air travel in Nigeria rebounded from its post 2005 downturn and reached new highs in both domestic and international travel. Enplanements on Nigerian carriers for both domestic and international flights totalled about seven million at the time. By 2006, that number had risen marginally to about 9 million. Since then, traffic has been growing.

Last year figure of more than 11 million according to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was heart warming. This was majorly due to good air safety record that the country has enjoyed since 2006.

The high safety record has engendered confidence in a sector that was at the brink of collapse.

While passenger traffic was growing in Nigeria, existing infrastructure was deteriorating at an alarming speed. The airport terminals across the country were outdated, begging for upgrade. This equally exposed the underbelly of the entire system.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Olusegun Harold Demuren  last year summed up the frustration of many users of the facilities when he said, "airports are no longer built this way. Our airport terminals are outdated, not functioning and a big discomfort to many travellers".

@lereboy

Courtesy

AVIATORS MAGAZINE...for the world traveller.
www.aviatorsmagazineng.com
Follow us on twitter@aviatorsmag

Airport: Full audit of all security facilities on going

As part of measures to ensure that security arrangements at the country's airports are functional and capable of detecting threats to the country's aviation sector, the House of Representatives, yesterday, directed its committee on aviation to carry out a full audit of all security facilities at the nation's airport and report to it within four weeks.

Similarly, the House also directed the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, to initiate measures to remove obsolete NITEL cables nationwide.

In a motion brought by Ossai Nicholas Ossai, the lawmaker noted that the global security challenges in air transportation called for urgent adoption of measures to forestall any breach of passenger and aircraft safety in Nigeria.

He, however, noted that the on-going renovation of the airports had dislocated and disrupted the smooth functioning of installed scanning machines and other vital security gadgets, thereby posing great security risk to passengers and the airports.

Other Aviation headlines...
*Airlines introduce fuel surcharge on fuel worldwide..
*Air Nigeria makes maiden flight to U.K

Culled from:
AVIATORS MAGAZINE...for the world traveller.
www.aviatorsmagazineng.com
Follow us on twitter@aviatorsmag.

Again, Power outage hits MMIA

By LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE
IKEJA— Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, was, yesterday, thrown into darkness, while   passengers and workers were trapped inside lifts for 45 minutes due to power outage.

The outage occurred at 12 noon.

According to an eye- witness, those  trapped in the lifts were heard screaming and kicking inside for help.



He added that the people who were trapped also tried to force the lifts open, but could not.

The screaming of the trapped victims attracted the attention of Federal Aviation Airports Authority engineers, who had to go to the sixth floor to work on the lifts before they could force them open.

 
Vanguard Nigeria

Remodeling the Airports, at what cost?

As remodeling work on some airports across the country kicks-off, the
Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) umbrella body for airline operators
in Nigeria, has demanded to know the actual cost of the remodeling,
saying the on-going work appears to be a ruse that lacks planning and
proper coordination.

Spokesman for the operators, Tukur Muhammed said in an interview that
the operators were not convinced about the on-going work, calling on
necessary quarters, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), to investigate the amount released for the project
he described as mere plastering of airports.

"Over $76million has been received from the Bilateral Air Services
Agreement (BASA) fund and that is apart from other funds that will be
used for the renovation. I can tell you that the terminal managers of
the airports are not happy; they can't speak because they are civil
servants but the destruction of some terminal building like in Kaduna
is uncalled for.

@lereboy

AVIATORS MAGAZINE...for the world traveller
www.aviatorsmagazineng.com