ACI Commends FAAN for Successful ICAO Audit

Chinedu Eze

The Director General of the Airport Council International (ACI), Angela Gittens, has commended the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for the success it achieved recently during the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).

Gittens stated this in an interview during the 55th Airport Council International (ACI) Africa Board and Working Meetings and  Regional Conference and Exhibition  in Cairo, Egypt, which ended at the weekend.

By passing the audit, ICAO has given approval for the certification of major Nigerian airports, a feat only few airports in Africa have attained.

“We are very proud of how the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has improved on safety and security. I will hope that with the kind of success achieved, we would be able to call on them to help other airports”, she said.

Gittens also noted that, prior to the audit, FAAN had invited ACI – APEX for Safety review at airports in Nigeria, thus providing guidance and facilitation improvements through monitoring and best practice exchanges, which addressed potential vulnerable areas and identified gaps, which the agency had closed.

In her keynote address, Gittens stated that Nigeria was among the three African countries whose 97 airport professionals were trained last year in understanding Annex 14, Aerodrome Certification, Airport Safety Implementation, and Airside Safety and Operations.

ACI currently consists of 62 regular members in 47 countries managing 250 airports, as well as 27 World Business Partners.

ACI-Africa represents African airport operators. Its main mission is to promote the collective interests of airports and the communities they serve, and to promote excellence in airport management and operations, helping to provide passengers with a safer, more secure, more efficient and environmentally responsible air transport system.