Danger Looms as FG Insists on Lagos, Abuja International Terminals as Operation Hubs for New National Carrier

Chinedu Eze

Except for last minute changes, the federal government has concluded plans to use the international terminal at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos as operational hub for domestic services of the planned national carrier, Nigeria Air, which is against the recent airport security recommendations.

Government also wants to use the old international terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja for the airline’s operation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Informed source told THISDAY that the plans have been concluded adding that by July this year the airline would start operation with initial three aircraft, a situation, the said, would portend serious danger for aviation industry, as earlier warned by airport security operatives. 

THISDAY gathered that the terminal in Lagos, which is currently serving international operations, would become underutilised by the time the new terminal inaugurated recently by President Muhammadu Buhari becomes fully operational.

But aviation security experts said that using the two terminals in the two major cities in Nigeria would compromise the security status of the two facilities, which are used for international flight services, as the old terminals are linked to the new ones. They said it would be against the regulation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the US Transport Security Administration (TSA), which certified the two airports for international operations.

In 2007 a committee set up by the presidency, at the instance of National Security Adviser (NSA), headed by the then Senior Special Adviser to the President on Aviation, Captain Shehu Usman Iyal directed the defunct Virgin Nigeria Airways and Arik Air to move their domestic operations to the newly completed Murtala MuhammedAirport domestic terminal, known as MMA2. The reason for the relocation was that domestic passengers and international passengers should not be processed at the same facility for security reasons.

Captain Iyal confirmed to THISDAY on Wednesday that the sole reason why the two airlines moved their domestic service to MMA2 was security in line with ICAO Annex 17, which deals on security.

“The main reason Arik and Virgin Nigeria Airways were directed to move their domestic operation out of the international airport in Lagos was because of security consideration. The committee was set up, which I headed with representatives from aviation and intelligence agencies in the airport community and based on ICAO recommendation, the airlines had to move their domestic services,” he said.

A top official of Arik Air had also told THISDAY that it was because of security reasons that the airline relocated its domestic operation and continued with its international service, which include flights to New York, London, Johannesburg, the West Coast destinations, Angola and others at the terminal.

THISDAY enquiries confirmed government’s decision to locate Nigeria Air at these international terminals. 

Senior official in the Ministry of Aviation who requested for anonymity, told THISDAY that the plan was to give the new carrier a head start, but officials midwifing the airline had allayed fears that government would not give the new carrier advantage over domestic airlines, but locating it at a different terminal from other domestic airlines would be giving it an edge.

THISDAY investigations also revealed that the only worry the existing airlines have is that government would place it above other airlines; so there would be no equal playing field besides the fact that aviation agencies and other government organisations would give it priority against the others.

So domestic airlines are asking that equal and competitive environment should be created for them and the new national carrier, insisting that they would ensure that government does not give Nigeria Air any advantage over the others.

One of the officials behind the new airline told THISDAY that Nigeria Air would not stifle competition because it would follow international standards, as enshrined by ICAO, adding that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) would not allow any airline to be placed at advantage against others.

Security expert and the CEO of Centurion Security and Safety Consultants, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd), told THISDAY that despite all these efforts to establish a national carrier and perhaps put it above other domestic airlines, there is no hope that the airline would survive for a long time, considering what happened to the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) and despite the fact that government said that the new airline would be private sector driven and with 95 stake from private investors.

“My fear about national carrier is that it will go the same way as NAL. I am not in support of it. How many countries in Africa have national carrier? South Africa Airways, Kenya Airways have faced a lot of problems. It is only Ethiopian Airlines that is doing well because the airline is run transparently. But Ghana, Congo, Cameroon and others had national carrier in the past but they have all gone under.

“But if you say that it is 95 per cent private sector driven, why don’t you put out the bidding; why are you midwifing it? They way they are going, it will not work,” Ojikutu said.

He said that no matter the advantage given it against other airlines, there is no guarantee that it would survive for a long time.

THISDAY also learnt that the major reason why Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) was not allowed to operate regional services at MAA2 was because it would bring domestic and regional passengers together and this is discouraged for security and other reasons, which include drug trafficking.

BASL had approval from the federal government to operate both regional and domestic services processed at the same terminal.

Industry experts believe that as long as the old international terminals are likened to the new they are still considered international terminals so it would be against ICAO recommendation that both domestic and international passengers are processed from the same facility.