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

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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
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Reward for Honesty

Turkish Airlines has rewarded a staff of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, NAHCO, Mr Salami Lateef Ibrahim with an all expensive paid returned tickets to Istanbul, Turkey for returning the sum of 25,000 pounds and 5,000 euro he found inside an aircraft at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Ibrahim, who is a cabin cleaning team leader, found the wallet containing the amount during a routine cleaning of an aircraft belonging to a different airline.
The NAHCO staff who was initially rewarded with a rebate ticket by the Turkish Airlines Station Manager at the airport, Mr. Ovunc Bilgen had the ticket upgraded to a full return ticket by the Managing Director of the airline in Nigeria, Mr. Ali Bulut, saying that 'Mr Ibrahim deserves it for his honesty.'
He said that 'this is an act that should be rewarded and encouraged because it is good for aviation industry in Nigeria,' adding that 'even though the incident did not take place on Turkish Airlines' aircraft, we are happy that it happened at least in the industry.
According to him, 'where I come from, good behavior is rewarded even if it is not directly to you. We appreciate Ibrahim so much and this is worthy of emulation for other aviation personnel that they must be trusted at all time and that good gesture such as this will surely be rewarded.

@lereboy

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

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We shall start blogging soon, in the mean timer there would be NeWs tregurlarly


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