Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operator of terminal 2 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Thursday said it received between 10,000 to 15,000 visitors at the terminal daily.
This was disclosed by the chief operating officer of BASL, Remi Jibodu, in a chat with journalists.
According to Jibobu, with the visit, the government should expand the infrastructure to accommodate more people. “The terminal welcomes about 10,000 up to 15,000 people, including the footfalls, that come in and out of the facility on a daily basis. I encourage the government to ensure that they expand what they are already doing,” he stated.
Speaking further, Jibodu applauded the federal government over the implementation of the Cape Town Convention Practice instituted last year, stressing that such step taken, will help boost capacity in the industry.
According to Jibodu, CTC will encourage airlines to be able to get dry leases, which means streamlining aviation equipment financing, cost reduction and flexibility in the choice of utilising local crew as against foreign crew.
He said, “when you look at most of the aircraft that we brought in, maybe in November, December last year, you would realise that, because it was summer, a lot of them were cheaper to get, at least at that time. I have airlines that have to return their aircraft because they can’t cope with the lease agreements.”
“And in Nigeria, unless you have private funds, if you look at the financial institutions, vis-a-vis what is happening in the industry now, you have interest rates of about 30 per cent plus. The inflation is about 24.7 or thereabouts. So it means that if you are borrowing money from the bank, it is going to be very difficult for you to breakeven, especially when they are putting the cost in terms of lease agreement on you”, he said.
Jibodu believes that with dry lease, airlines would be able to maintain existing crew, which would also develop our own pilots in Nigeria, increase revenue and also be able to employ more people.
Jibodu, however, advised that, in talking about capacity, the routes should be taken into consideration as some routes are not very well serviced while others like Lagos, Abuja and Portharcourt are well utilised.
To balance the disparity, Jibodu suggested that the government should endeavour to create trade centres in various airport locations to speed up economic activities.
In his remarks, chairman of LAAC, Idris Suleiman commended BASL, urging them to continue to sustain seamless facilitations, just as they have been doing.
Suleiman said; “passengers’ comfort is the utmost in aviation business so the terminal management in collaboration with airlines must always ensure prompt, seamless facilitations to ensure they get to their destinations on time.”
