Chinedu Eze
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that it has made every provision to utilise the new terminals, known as Chinese Terminals, as they are commissioned and put into operation.
The General Manager, Corporate Affairs of FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, disclosed this to THISDAY in Lagos, adding that the new Port Harcourt International Airport terminal unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari recently would go into operation immediately.
Yakubu, said the two foreign airlines, Lufthansa and Air France, that operate to the airport would be designated at the departures and they would soon start using the new facility.
“The new terminals will enhance and capacity and they will ease passenger facilitation so we are grateful to the federal government for completing the terminals in the major airports of the country, which before the end of the first quarter of next year all of them will become operational.
“Port Harcourt passengers were excited about the new terminal. Because of the location of the facility, many passengers did not know that construction of such edifice was going on until the day it was commissioned. They were amazed and I am sure that the terminal will make more people want to travel from Port Harcourt,” she said.
The General Manager said that FAAN has already mapped out ways to fuse the old terminal to the new for seamless passenger facilitation.
On the existing terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja FAAN has moved departures upstairs with escalators and lifts to take passengers to the floor and this has created more space on the ground floor. The agency has also constructed new toilet facilities to meet the need of travellers and other airport users.
“At the existing terminal, Model D, initially we were processing passengers on the ground level and passengers were also departing from the same level, so the management of the airport started work on the next level. So now the passenger buys his ticket on the ground level, screened and then he goes through the escalators to the next level, departures for boarding. There is more space for the airlines and more space for passengers to be processed. Also, more seats are available for the departing passengers to relax and wait for their flights.
She said after the commissioning of the Abuja new airport terminal, all the foreign airlines would move to the new facility and the area that now serve as international section in the existing terminal would be converted for domestic use.
