FAAN Pledges Passenger Facilitation, Security at Airports

Chinedu Eze

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that one of the primary duties of airport management is ensuring that the passenger who just arrived at the airport from any part of the world leaves the airport safe and secure till his final destination.

It is the same responsibility the agency owes to the departing passenger who must be processed seamlessly to the aircraft that will take him or her to his or her desired destinations.

This explains why FAAN is interested in the taxi service operators that take arriving passengers out of their airports and intends to structure a system, whereby those who operate at airport exercise some levels of responsibility by being accountable to the passenger.

This is why the agency streamlined taxi operations at the major airports in the country, an action that stirred misunderstanding between the agency and the e-hailing taxi providers like Uber and Bolt who alleged that they have been excluded from operating at the airport.

The Director, Public Affairs & Corporate Protocol, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Henry Agbebire, explained that the continuing public conversation around the operations of Uber, Bolt and other e-hailing services at Nigerian airports deserves a little more context and a broader perspective.

He said passengers want convenient, affordable and readily available transportation when they arrive at an airport, noting that e-hailing platforms have transformed urban mobility and have become an important part of the travel experience for many Nigerians and FAAN also recognises this. 

It is this reality that has prompted FAAN to open up negotiation with the e-hailing service provider with the expectation that they will align with the philosophy behind the agency’s new policy on taxi operations at the airports under its management.

The director said the issue before the agency was not whether passengers should be able to use Uber, Bolt or other platforms. It is how commercial transportation operates within a highly regulated airport environment.

“That distinction is important,” he said.

He argued that an airport should not be a pick-up point because airports are security-sensitive environment where thousands of passengers, employees, vehicles and service providers interact every day.

Consequently, every commercial vehicle operating within the airport environment must be identifiable and accountable. The airport authority needs to know, where necessary, who is operating the vehicle, what vehicle is involved, where passengers are being picked up and how the activity can be tracked if a security or passenger-related incident occurs.

“This is not peculiar to Nigeria. Even Uber’s own published guidance recognises that airports operate under specific rules, including designated pick-up locations, staging areas and other airport-specific requirements. The principle is simple: the convenience of digital mobility does not remove the need for airport-specific safety and operational controls,” he said.

He said that one of the reasons why FAAN decided to rein the hitherto independent taxi operators is to be able to answer the questions, what happens when things go wrong.

“If a passenger reports an incident involving a vehicle that picked him or her up at an airport, the relevant question cannot simply be whether the trip was booked through an app. There must also be an operational framework through which the airport authority can establish the identity of the vehicle and driver, the circumstances surrounding the pick-up and the appropriate channel for intervention.

“This is why FAAN has been seeking an arrangement that gives the Authority adequate visibility over commercial transportation activities within its airports. It is about accountability. It is about security. And ultimately, it is about the passenger.” Agbebire said.

He also threw light on the operations of FAAN’s Airport Car Hire Rank Management System (ACHRAMS), saying that ACHRAMS is not FAAN’s attempt to create an alternative e-hailing platform; rather, it was developed to provide greater operational visibility and tracking within the airport environment, while facilitating the accountable management of applicable concession and related airport charges.

According to him, the broader objective is to bring greater structure to airport ground transportation and address some of the long-standing challenges associated with unregulated activities, passenger solicitation and touting.

“These are not imaginary concerns. FAAN has received complaints from passengers and has observed challenges associated with commercial transportation activities around airport premises. A modern airport cannot afford to operate without adequate visibility over commercial activities taking place within its environment,” the director further said.

According to him, it is equally important to dispel the impression that FAAN’s position is designed to protect conventional airport taxis from competition, explaining that it is not the issue in this case because FAAN’s concern should be, and is, the standard under which any commercial transportation provider operates within the airport.

Whether the vehicle is an airport taxi, an e-hailing vehicle or any other authorised commercial transport service, the same basic principles should apply: safety, security, identification, accountability, orderly operations and protection of passengers.

Agbebire stressed that competition remained healthy because it creates the opportunity for a passenger to make a choice. In addition, innovation is also welcome. Therefore, the agency will not discourage competition which creates the opportunity for better service.  But none of these should require an airport authority to surrender operational visibility over vehicles and persons operating within its environment.

“There is understandable concern that when transportation options are temporarily affected, passengers may face higher fares or reduced availability. FAAN does not dismiss that concern. On the contrary, passenger convenience is an important consideration in resolving the current situation quickly.

“But we should be careful not to allow the legitimate concern about fares to obscure the equally legitimate question of safety and security. The answer to a temporary inconvenience should not be to abandon a necessary safety framework. The answer should be to resolve the outstanding issues as quickly as possible so that passengers can enjoy both convenience and protection. This is precisely why FAAN has continued its engagement with the affected operators,” he said.

On the way forward, Agbebire said that there would be little value in turning this into a contest between FAAN and the e-hailing companies, noting that Uber and Bolt have become important parts of the transportation ecosystem, and FAAN recognises the value they bring to passengers.

At the same time, FAAN has a responsibility that cannot be delegated: ensuring that activities within the airport environment are conducted safely, securely and in an orderly manner.

FAAN is currently engaging Uber and Bolt and others that provide e-hailing services to agree on how to dovetail them into the agency’s approved operations system.

Agbebire said the appropriate solution, therefore, would not confrontation. It is collaboration. The objective is to arrive at an operational framework that allows e-hailing companies to continue providing passengers with convenient transportation while satisfying the airport’s legitimate safety, security, accountability and operational requirements.

“That is why the current engagement between FAAN and the operators is important, and why it is in the interest of everyone, particularly passengers, that it is concluded expeditiously.

“So, the debate should therefore not be framed as FAAN versus Uber or FAAN versus Bolt. It should be about finding the right balance between two things that should never be presented as mutually exclusive: passenger convenience and passenger safety,” he added.