The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it operates about 272 aircraft movements daily at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

The agency said it had also intensified efforts to de-congest the nation’s busiest airport in order to improve safety and security at the facility.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mrs Victoria Shin-Aba, the Airport Manager in MMIA, made the disclosure on Tuesday while briefing newsmen after a tour of the airport.

Shin-Aba said the MMIA, which was inaugurated in 1979, had seen a tremendous increase in the number of aircraft and passenger traffic, thereby stretching its capacity.

She said currently, 32 international airlines were operating into the main MMIA, while eight airlines were operating on the domestic routes through the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) and the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2.

“We operate about 272 aircraft movements per day both arrival and departure on the international routes.
We have an average of 123 international arrivals per day .

“At the GAT, we have 27 arrivals and 32 departures per day, while the International Cargo Wing of the airport operates 30 arrivals and 27 departures per day,” Shin-Aba said.

She said the MMIA had 14 air bridges and four remote parking bays, the cargo terminal had four parking bays for cargo aircraft, while the GAT had 14 parking bays.

The airport manager, however, said that the smooth movement of aircraft was being affected by parked serviceable and unserviceable planes at the apron wing of the airport.

She said three aircraft belonging to an airline (names withheld) had been parked at the GAT for about seven years, while four others belonging to two other airlines were currently parked at the MMIA without being utilised.

“We are concerned about the issue because it tells on our security. It also affects safety because aircraft will be maneuvering to park due to lack of space.

“Again, it discourages investors because they always want to operate where they can function easily.

“The reasons these aircraft are parked here is that the airline operators are not paying parking charges in accordance with FAAN Bye Laws.

“So, we have been making overtures to them to see how the issue can be resolved. We have informed them that they can relocate the serviceable aircraft to other less busy airports and we will not charge them.

“We are also working on relocating the aircraft to other areas within the airport, especially the unserviceable ones to create more parking space and we are still working on that.”

Shin-Aba said FAAN was also making effort to expand the apron at all its terminals to accommodate more aircraft.

“At the cargo wing, we are doing something even though work has stopped for now, but by the time it is completed, we will have eight more parking bays.

“At the GAT, we also have ongoing project which will accommodate five more aircraft,”she said.

(NAN)