Still on the Infrastructure Deficit in Aviation
Last week, industry experts at a conference in Lagos, organised by the Aviation Round Table (ART), a think-tank body in the sector, x-rayed the limitations in air transport in the country, blaming the bad situation on obsolete and limited infrastructure. The thereafter proffered ways the country could improve airport facilities and boost the industry. The experts also linked flight cancellations, flight delays, lack of profitability of airlines and menace of weather to poor infrastructure and lamented the failure of government to take the right policies at the right time and also to implement the policies that would grow the sector. For example, the experts explained that during the Harmattan haze and the rains, flight operations are impaired due to bad weather, which could be overcome with modern facilities that are currently inadequate in Nigeria. They noted that lack of aviation infrastructure has hindered the maximisation of Nigeria’s airspace and forced airlines to operate fewer hours a day. But the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Fola Akinkuotu said the federal government has completed plans to install Instrument Landing System (ILS) in Abuja and Lagos so that flights could land at zero visibility. However Akinkuotu said for the airlines to benefit from the new equipment, they must have corresponding equipment in their aircraft and called for the training of Nigerian pilots on the technologies adopted for airspace management in the country. According to Akinkuotu, without sufficient training of pilots on new air navigation technology; the huge investment on spacebased technology such as Performance Based Navigation would not achieve the desired results. Akinkuotu said the agency is getting worried that many domestic carriers were yet to train their pilots on performance based navigation systems despite the huge commitment of funds into the project. He said there is need for a match between provision of modern air navigation equipment and user capability. The NAMA Boss said the airspace agency has been grappling with epileptic power supply at airports nationwide, which has forced the agency to spend millions of naira on diesel for generators as secondary source of power supply. Besides epileptic power supply, Akinkuotu identified porous airports without perimeter fences as part of the challenges affecting aviation infrastructure. “For you to succeed in airline business you have to hit critical mass. I doubt whether there is any airline that can succeed in Nigeria. My greatest fear is the Harmattan. But we have moved forward. The Nigerian airspace has improved over the years in response to global trends. For example, Kaduna airport has DVOR (enroute navigation equipment); Lagos has two ILS (Instrument Landing System), Kano airport has three, while Kaduna has one. “We have navigational equipment that has to be maintain 24 hours a day, but there is no power so we have standby. We have concluded plans to have solar panels, but there will be a question of security. Most of the ILS we have in this country are Category two. But we have to be able to meet the latest technology where flights can land on zero-zero visibility (when aircraft can land in thick fog and Harmattan haze). Also international aviation consultant and the publisher of African Aviation magazine, Mr. Nick Fadugba said that Nigeria needs major maintenance facility in the country and called for merger of the airlines in order to benefit from the economy of scale and to code-share to make their businesses profitable. “Airlines should come together and form joint ventures. Airlines as they exist today are weak. No Nigerian airline today is big enough to fill the shoes of the former national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL). We want the government of Nigeria to be transparent in infrastructure development. There should be transparency and good governance in Nigeria. That is all we need to grow the industry because in Africa no country has the economic potential of Nigeria. Foreign airlines come to Nigeria to make money, but Nigerian airlines don’t make money,” Fadugba, who is also the former Secretary-General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA), said. In his contribution, the former Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, reiterated that Nigerian has the population; it has the travelling public, so every airline that comes to Nigeria makes money, noting that the country has tremendous amount of potential. Demuren stated that the private sector must be brought in to develop aviation infrastructure but government must have to show commitment and encourage private investment. “Every state must have commitment for aviation, but nobody will invest in your country unless you have corporate governance. Nobody will invest in your country if he knows he will go into litigation when he commits his money to projects. Infrastructure plays major role in aviation and aviation is the engine of economic growth,” Demuren said. Also speaking at the conference, former Rector, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Samuel Caulcrick canvassed the setting up of an Aviation Development Commission to coordinate gaps in the sector. Such body, he said would serve as an intervention agency to drive the development of the sector, adding that such a body would be useful in addressing formulation of policies that will drive the growth of the industry. In the next few weeks, airline operators and air travellers will be at the mercy of the Harmattan haze, but as NAMA boss, Akinkuotu noted that the Nigerian government is making efforts to improve landing aids. But the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Saleh Dunoma warned that whatever is done to mitigate the vagaries of weather in airline operation, it has to be recongised that weather has its ways and its ways must be respected.