Chinedu Eze
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Saleh Dunoma has said that the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the ones in Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt have met recommended safety standards after they were assessed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Airport Council International (ACI).
The airports, which are due to be awarded certification for meeting international safety standard and recommended practices by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) are expected to attract more mega carriers with their new status, especially MMIA.
According to Dunoma, with the new safety rating of these airports, there is likelihood that aircraft insurers may reduce premium for Nigerian airlines.
“Certification is all about safety. We have by way of going through the process of certification achieved a lot of safety standards. Before this time, we had an assessment. NCAA did an assessment on all the safety issues at the airports. And then, ACI (Airport Council International) in conjunction with ICAO also did assessment. So, we combined the two assessments both the one done by ICAO/ACI and the one done by NCAA.
“We put them together so that we can address them. We have been addressing issues raised by these agencies and NCAA is supervising us to confirm whether those issues have been closed. So, as soon as we close them, NCAA will tell us if it is properly closed. If there are corrections, we will do the corrections. The assessment as far as we are concerned is the level of safety standard we have achieved, which is higher than what it used to be before the certification process. This is what is important to us,†Dunoma said.
He confirmed that FAAN spent resources to achieve the given safety standards, noting, “there is no way you can achieve a level of safety without investing but what is important is the safety achievement.â€
The FAAN boss said after the assessment these aviation agencies made recommendations and corrections, known as open items, which the agency is striving to close and it is after closing the items that NCAA could now certify the airports and the world would be notified about the new category of the airports.
Category rating of airports determines their level of safety and the kind of aircraft that could be allowed to operate at such airports and also the level of traffic that also could be allowed in such airports.
