Airline Operators Raise Concern over Delays, Loss of Resources Emanating from VIP Movement

Chinedu Eze

Airline operators have expressed concern over the unscheduled delays of airline operations in the air and on ground, occasioned by very important personality (VIP) movement, insisting that such delays are inimical to flight safety, causing loss of resources, as aircraft burn a lot of fuel while waiting in the air.

Senior member of Airline Operators of Nigeria and the President/CEO of Top Brass Aviation Limited, Captain Roland Iyayi, told THISDAY that aircraft being made to stay at different areas of the airspace waiting for VIP movement could lead to accident because such unscheduled delays do not specify how long aircraft could wait in the airspace.

VIP movement refers to when the airspace is closed to other civil aviation flights for top government officials like the President, Vice President or anyone operating presidential aircraft is cleared for flight.

Iyayi recalled that when he was the Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in 2006, airspace was closed for the presidential jet in Lagos, which led to an incident when a Parsa 208 aircraft was forced to land on Ewekoro road after waiting in the airspace for 30 minutes and the aircraft fuel was running out. The pilot decided to land on the road and waited until a signal came from air traffic controllers to approach and land at the Murtala Muhmmed Airport, Lagos.

It was believed that if the aircraft did not find a space to land it would have crashed, but because it was a small-body aircraft, it was able to land on the road. Passenger aircraft like Boeing 737 would not have attempted to land on the road like the Parsa 208, which is a propeller aircraft.

A senior executive of one of the major Nigerian carriers narrated his airline’s experience on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to him, the airline’s flight was delayed at the Abuja airspace for 50 minutes due to VIP movement.

“From 16.58 (4:58 pm) to 17.48 (5:48 pm), 50 minutes, this evening (April 25, 2023) at Abuja airport, operations were halted due to VIP movement. All flights have at least an hour delay and some had more than an hour delay, as the departures and arrivals experienced associated delays. Flights already boarded and about to depart were held down with passengers on board for 50 minutes. The cost of this is enormous. This is not a complaint oh. It is just a pointing out,” the senior executive said.

Another industry stakeholder described the incident as impunity at its highest level.

“Quite insensitive with notoriety amplified, which are inconveniences to passengers, which include fuel top up, delays to connecting passengers, excessive block hours, sunset implications, crew fatigue and many others. Surely there must be better, more efficient ways of securing our airspace for our VIPs. Travelers, airport staff and operators shouldn’t be subjected to these pains even, as usual, operators pick up the bill. The current system of VIP restrictions is a throwback from the old days of military dictatorship. It actually has no security benefit as it actually draws attention to the VIP,” the stakeholder said.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye, during an industry discussion via the Whatsapp social media, called for suggestions on how such movement can have less adverse effect on airline operators

“I learnt that it is only United States that has a separate airfield for its No1.

If that is true, it means every country extends that courtesy and cover for its No 1.

The time allotted may differs, but it’s there. My thought please,” Adurogboye said.

But Captain Iyayi recalled that when the aforementioned incident happened, he called on the then Director General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren and they wanted to find a solution to that problem.

Proffering solution, he said, “We should establish purple corridor airways, so that if you have VIP movement the aircraft could be cleared without interfering with normal flight operations. This is what is done in many countries. This thing we are doing now we inherited from the military era. In fact, during the military, all airlines are directed to be standstill while there was VIP movement, but the truth is that it is not safe. We have talked about this many times. The new government that is coming in should look into this to know what to do to solve this problem.

In his reaction, aviation stakeholder and the Secretary General of Aviation Round Table (ART), Group Captain John Ojukutu (retd), told THISDAY the solution lies with the air traffic controllers.

“It depends on the skills of the Air traffic Controllers and the Airports Security Programmes. Airports with two runways should not be problems for the VIP Air Movements. All it requires is to divert all traffic to one and reserve one for the VIP 30 minutes before take-off. Provide or reserve a non-conflicting departure route for the VIP from the routes of the other flights until a safe distance or height separations are secured and monitored by the ATCS. All these require professional skills if they are available. The question is, are they available in sufficient numbers? Inadequate manpower was the major reason for the numerous crashes of 2005/2007. NAMA was efficient by 300 in Air traffic Controllers. How many are available today, how many have been recruited and how many have left? How often do they have recurrent training? If these are not seriously addressed, there can be no changes in effective separation of VIP flights movements and the other traffic,” he said.

Domestic airlines lose huge resources to VIP movement and to the attendant flight delays, which snowballs and could lead to cancellation of flights.