The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has purchased luxury buses for the movement of foreign passengers from the aircraft to the newly built Chinese terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
It was gathered over the weekend that FAAN provided five buses to be used to move passengers to their aircrafts.
A usually authoritative source who was not authorised to speak informed LEADERSHIP that the procurement of the bus less than a two weeks after the minister’s visit showed his commitment to redirecting the sector.
“In a bid to address the challenges faced in the migration from the loss of a aviobridges, FAAN has launched a new set of luxury buses to transport arriving passengers from the aircraft to the terminal. This shows the continuing drive of the new Minister to address headlong the challenges of redirecting the sector,” the source said.
However, LEADERSHIP reports that the minister of Aviation and Aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, had on August 31, 2023, given a deadline of October, 1 2023 for all foreign airlines to relocate from the old terminal to the newly built Chinese terminal, but the management of FAAN had to fast track the implementation of the minister’s directive in response to the recent fire outbreak which raised safety concerns and affected passengers’ movements.
The minister, in his maiden visit and a tour of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos relocated all foreign airlines to the newly built Chinese terminal, saying, the reason the new terminal had been underutilised was because it could not take wide-bodied aircraft.
He further noted that the old international terminal of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos would be shut down by October 1st, 2023 for renovation even as he said all private hangars like Dominion hangar, EAN hangar and others would be relocated to pave way for expansion of the new terminal.
Speaking during the tour, he said: “the major complaints have been with the old terminal. That place is an eyesore to Nigerians coming in. The lifts are not working, the passage is unwelcoming and there is no air conditioner. We have the new terminal but cannot be used. It was designed without provision for big planes.
“I don’t know what happened and I have been asking that question that makes them not have aviobridges that would lead to the big planes. Sixty per cent of revenue for FAAN comes from the Lagos airport. Beyond that, Lagos airport is the gateway and the first impression into the country.”
The minister said has given both international airlines and local airlines till 1st October, to move from the old terminal to the new one, stating that the ministry will shut down the old terminal temporarily and sort out all the issues surrounding the old terminal such as concession agreements.
To him, “You can see that the complaints of foreigners and Nigerians coming into Nigeria have been with the old terminal, the old terminal is an eyesore, things are not working there but we have this new terminal that the Chinese built.
“Nigerians are asking why they are not using this new terminal. The simple reason is that this international Gateway terminal was designed without a provision for the big planes, no avio-bridges that can link the big planes, that has been the problem. Meanwhile, 60 percent of FAAN revenue comes from the Lagos airport.
“We are going to shut down the old terminal and sort out all the issues regarding renovation of the terminal, there are issues with concessions and all of that for now, I have suspended all of that, including the issue of Nigeria Air. I have given a directive to suspend everything until I brief Mr. President as to what is happening regarding all of this noise. The duty I owe the President is to honestly and rightly advise him and I am looking at all the agreements and everything that was signed to correctly inform him, I owe my total loyalty to Nigerians.”
He, however, disclosed that the ministry would procure buses to move foreign passengers to and from the new terminal pending when the defect of the new terminals would be corrected for wide-bodied foreign airlines to operate.
“For now, the temporary arrangements we have is, for the comfort of Nigerians we have to find a way to use the new terminal. Like in many other countries, we have to get emergency procurement to buy big buses and move passengers to where the big planes can stop for both arrivals and departures, so that Nigerians can have some form of comfort.”
