…Assures Passengers, Airport Users Of Better Services
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that it was making adequate preparation to handle the expected 30 million passengers’ traffic at the completion of work at the international airport terminal building under construction in Lagos.
This is just as the agency said that apart from the Turkish Airlines passengers’ breach at Abuja Airports; it was a hitch and seamless passenger’s facilitation airports across the country.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr Yakubu Dati said this while speaking to aviation correspondents at the agency’s corporate headquarters, Murtala Muhammed Airport(MMA),Lagos
He stated that FAAN presently handles 15 million passengers but that it has projected an additional 15million passenger volume this year, when the Lagos Airport international terminal is completed.
According to him, “With the completion of the new terminal in Lagos, the terminal will be able to process additional 15 million passengers which means we will able to service about 30 million passengers. All these are things put together to raise aviation to a new level this year.”
On passengers’ traffic management before and after the yuletide, Dati said that except for the Turkish airline’s passengers breach it was a hitch and seamless passenger facilitation across airports in the country.
The FAAN image maker disclosed that the agency’s Aviation Security (AVSEC) and other security agencies deployed detective machines such as screening machine, Close Circuit Television (CCTV) full body scanners and personal intelligence to ensure easy facilitation of passengers at airports.
He expressed optimism that safer and more secured airport would be in place better than that witnessed this year when the new terminals under construction were completed and that passengers would have that experience they had always enjoyed outside the country.
Security at Nigerian airports ,he stated had been repositioned with a view to meeting the challenges ahead, adding that FAAN was looking forward to partnering with investors as a result of dwindling resources in line with the minister’s statement.
He appealed to FAAN concessionaire especially airlines to pay their debts to agencies to enable them to continue rendering satisfactory services to them.
On the preparation for the forthcoming International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit in March, Dati revealed that what looked like a mock exercise towards the audit was conducted by the Airport Council International (ACI) team during their visit on their invitation by the Managing Director of FAAN, Engr Dunoma Saleh
He added that some open items that were identified by ACI team during its visit to facilities at airport would be closed before the audit date,.
Nigeria ,he said would pass the audit, as the agency would do everything possible to ensure that the country does not disappoint the ICAO President, Dr Bernard Aliu.
Speaking on airports certification, Dati said a team was working round the clock with other agencies to ensure that all gaps were closed.
He advised airport users especially passengers not leave any luggage behind as any unattended luggage would be destroyed, appealing to passengers to adhere strictly to airport rules and regulations and not to carry any luggage that does not belonging to them.
The ministers’ visits to airports, he stated was timely as it afforded them the opportunity to acquaint themselves with facilities on ground with a view to addressing the lapses identified during the visits.