By Cosmas Okereafor
The Managing Director/CEO, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria(FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku has stated that, there is improved passenger flow at the airports despite the fire incident that occurred recently at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), that affected part of the terminal building. Before the fire incident that disrupted flight operations on that fateful day the government had concluded plans to bring down the old terminal building having directed all the airlines to relocate to the new terminal where all airlines are operating from at present.In an interview with CNBC Africa, this week that is ending today, the FAAN boss carefully articulated what measures FAAN has put in place and what the federal government is doing to enhance smooth Airport operations despite the set back occasioned by the fire outbreak that occurred last week.The vibrant and articulate FAAN boss however acknowledged the temporary set back and challenges faced by the passengers in the past week based on the developments around the airports but maintained that, the Authority is working round the clock to address some of the issues that seek to impinge on its operations, be it the “Go Cashless” temporarily halted by the government or transit facilities to enhance smooth flow of operations at the airports.
“I’m sure you’re aware that we actually introduced a cashless policy last year. So it was actually about July or last year and we intensified in October. This year we’ve seen quite a number of policy directives from the federal government asking us to stop cash activities.”There are actually two circulars that had been released by the federal government to this initiative. Now, if you look closely at our airport environment, I think Lagos and Abuja are two biggest markets, followed by Kanu and then Port Harcourt. Lagos and Abuja are quite interesting.In Abuja, most of the passengers going towards the airport area are using the airport as their end destination. There is a small community to the right, but I wouldn’t say that all of them are mobile. In very much, I would say big contrast to Lagos.”In Lagos, if you look at the positioning of the Lagos toll gate. So it’s actually to the right of the international airport where you have commuters who are either transitioning from international to domestic terminal or you actually have people who are going to other parts of, you know, Ikeja Oshodi Isolo. Unlike most of the other airports around the world where they have a 13-kilometre radius, the Lagos airport is actually positioned in communities.
“Of course, in the implementation of the cashless policy, it made it quite hectic because a lot of the commuters and even some of the passengers, despite a lot of the awareness, did not believe that we would actually start the enforcement on March 1st. “It did created a huge bottleneck over the first few days, but we saw that it actually started to ease off. I gave some interviews yesterday where I reeled out some data from October where we actually started the implementation to March 3rd”.With about 100,000 customers registered, out of those 62,000 were actually captured within three days of the exercise according to the MD was very impressive, but maintained that as an airport things must work optimally for every user.The FAAN boss however maintained that, the ultimate goal of the Authority aside of adequate security is to ensure that passengers and those living within the airport environments are not choaked in anyway.According to her; “And our ultimate goal outside of safety and security is also to make sure that our passengers and the neighbouring areas have a seamless experience.
We’re grateful to Mr. President. He was able to step in. For him, it wasn’t just about implementing a federal government directive. He understood the uniqueness of the airport environment and realized that if we implemented the policy without looking at a broader picture, so some of the infrastructure challenges that the airport has, things around potentially widening the lanes, improving or increasing the number of payment channels that we had, we will continue to have a challenge. And in his right full mind, within the Federal Executive Council, we did get a waiver that allowed us to do both hybrid, meaning that we will continue to use some of the contactless cards that we have put out so non-cash payments, but we can use cash until we get a broader view in terms of the number of people who can actually use contactless payments so far”, she stated.Describing the development a big win for the industry, the amiable Managing Director, explained also that, the Authority would have more time to plan and strategise and put the necessary infrastructure in place.
Comparing the Murtala Mohammed International Airport( MMAI), and others outside the country, Mrs kuku explained that, those other airports abroad have advantage due to there locations, saying that FAAN has taken cognisance of those things and is in the right trajectory to give passengers value for their monies.”if you look at the likes of Cairo, so look at the Cairo International Airport and then look at the Oliva Tambo in Johannesburg, they’ve done something that works extremely well, so actually it’s three of them. So look at Oliva Tambo, look at Addis and then look at Cairo. What works extremely well for them is the fact that they’ve not just made their airports a destination for passengers who are coming into their country, but they’ve made it a hub.”Because a lot of people use the terminology hub very loosely. A hub is literally an environment or an airport environment where you’re able to have transit passengers move from one location to the other without necessarily making that country their end destination. In Nigeria, for example, and when you look at the key factors that drive passenger traffic, the biggest is GDP.”When you look at the GDP of the Nigerian population and you compare it to our passenger traffic, it’s actually very low, it’s less than 2%. And what that means is that a lot of the passengers that are a lot of the Nigerian passengers are not traveling in contrast to all of the other areas.
For us to be able to drive passenger traffic effectively, it means that you need to do a couple of things”. She reiterated. While acknowledging the fact that, hub strategy is key which is inseparableFrom passenger and cargo, that, the enablers which is the airlines are very critical also in these whole arrangement.”One is in driving the hub strategy and the second is also in for both passenger and cargo. To make the hub strategy effective, a couple of things need to happen. It’s not just about developing an airport or building infrastructure.”For example, look at the airlines. So for us to be able to increase our aircraft movements and have additional points of entry, we look at the bilateral air service agreements that we have with other countries.”I believe that in this administration of the last three years, the Honourable Minister has actually improved the number of routes in terms of airlines that are going outside of the country and also being able to come into the Nigerian market.
“But what that also means is that as we start to say we’re driving a hub, one, you need to make sure that there’s a transit area. Today, within the Nigerian airport, it’s quite difficult for you to transit because there’s no transit facility.”And this is actually one of the things that we’re doing as part of the rehabilitation work that is happening. I’d like to get to that and where we are at correctly. Honestly, I did a 22 to 24 months timeline given here and also with some fire incident that happened Despite the fire incident that occurred, the Chief Executive office of FAAN also stressed that, although its operations were impacted when the inferno happened but that FAAN is doing everything possible to address the challenge posed by the unfortunate fire incident which largely affected the technologies.”So the impact was really on some of our technology that we were moving. So technology had where we were moving from the terminal one into the temporary terminal and terminal two. But the good news is that we were actually planning on leaving that terminal.”So Wednesday, that week was the last day for us to leave the terminal. So it’s just about a 2D setback. We had manual operations and manual checking for about four or five days.”We’ve now been able to restore our operations back to normal. Now, in terms of the rehabilitation itself, yes, the 22 to 24 months still stands.
As of November, if you’re passing through the airport area, we actually have now activated the temporary terminal.”So there’s a temporary terminal that has been built. I’m going to have it at the International Airport. There are four airlines that have moved into that terminal.”So Middle Eastern, I believe Air France, KLM, have all an Ethiopian have moved in there. This is a temporary facility that was built within a three month period. We did a tour of that facility very recently.”We do have alternate routes that have been built into the temporary terminal. If you notice, there’s a bridge that has been built because part of the rehabilitation works is also the entry and egress from the airport as well. So we’re, of course, with the 22 to 24 months timeline.”So one of the things that we did, as I mentioned earlier, it’s not just about designing an airport. You basically designed an airport from inside in. The first thing you mentioned was about passenger experience.”What we did was to look at the entire passenger journey from when you’re approaching the airport environment. So whether it’s tools, whether it’s the passenger drop off or curbside, and then when you come in. If you notice, over the last few months, we’ve actually redesigned some of our airport operations, and that has also been incorporated into the new design that allows improved passenger flow, where you’re potentially able to check in and even using certain touch points.”So it’s not just the infrastructure. We’re also using how we can leverage technology to improve the touch points, e-gates biometrics. Right now you have the biometrics and the e-gates being used on entry.”We’ve incorporated biometrics on exit as well, which is incorporated into the new design. So all of those are things that we’re considering heavily. But I think the big win for us will also be the transit facility that is being built and incorporated into this new design”, She stressed.
