August 12, 2013
Private jet owners barred from govt terminal
Aviation Minister, Ms. Stella Oduah and FAAN MD, Mr. George Uriesi
The
reform of the nation’s aviation sector is gathering momentum. However,
the directive by the Federal Government that private jet owners should
no longer operate from the international wing of the Lagos airport is
unsettling the operators, OYETUNJI ABIOYE writes
The last has not been heard of
the Federal Government’s reforms of the aviation sector, particularly in
the private and chartered jet sub-sector.
Barely three months after unveiling a
new policy for general aviation, which barred private jet owners from
carrying their friends and associates, the Federal Government has
stopped private jet owners and chartered jet operators from using the
international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos for foreign
travels.
The order, which has taken effect, was
conveyed through a memo from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
to the heads of all the security agencies operating at the MMIA.
Airport sources told our correspondent
on Friday that following the order, some private jet owners and
chartered jet operators had stopped travelling through the international
wing of the MMIA.
As a result, private jet owners and
chartered jet passengers travelling out and coming into the country will
not go through the required security screening, including that of the
Immigration, Customs, narcotics control and the State Security Service
at the MMIA.
The memo, a copy of which was obtained
by our correspondent, also directed the heads of security agencies to
deploy personnel to a privately-owned Fixed Base Operation facility to
conduct the necessary checks on the private jet owners and passengers
before and after foreign trips.
A FBO facility is a mini terminal or an
aviation facility where private jet owners and chartered jet operators
can also do fuelling, route planning and dispatching, among others.
The FAAN memo was copied to the
Director, State Security Service, MMIA; Commissioner of Police, Police
Airport Command; Military Airport Commandant, Nigeria Air Force;
Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service, MMIA; Controller, Nigeria
Customs Services, MMIA; and Airport Commander, National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency.
However, stakeholders, especially
private jet owners and chartered jet operators, have opposed the order,
saying the development would lead to higher cost of operations.
The operators claimed that the directive
would increase the cost of owning and operating private jets as the use
of a private facility instead of the government-owned MMIA before
embarking on foreign travels would lead to the escalation of their
costs.
Some operators have also accused FAAN of
conniving with the operator of the FBO to rip off private jet owners
and chartered jet operators.
A chartered jet operator, who spoke
under the condition of anonymity, said, “I think this is an unfair deal.
Why should we all be forced to leave the international terminal to a
private facility? This is not best practice any where in the world for
the government to force operators to be patronising only one Fixed Base
Operation.
“What is wrong with our present
arrangement? Is this free to us all or this will be an additional cost
to our already strained budget? No consultation whatsoever from the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria on this before the implementation.
There are so many questions. Is this another ‘food for the boys’
arrangement? This is so unfair.”
However, FAAN has directed the Nigerian
Airspace Management Agency to clear private jets and charter jets from
the private facility.
The directive, it was leant, took effect
a few weeks ago, but some industry stakeholders said the development
would lead to lax security measures for private and chartered jet
passengers.
They said that having to screen high
profile passengers, who constituted the bulk of private jet owners and
passengers at a private facility instead of the government-owned
international terminal, might lead to massive compromise of standard
security screening required for international travels.
But FAAN, in its memo to NAMA, said it
had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the owners of the private
FBO and that requisite security personnel had been deployed to the
facility.
The FAAN memo, dated July 4, 2013,
signed by the Regional Manager, Mr. E. A. Olarerin, read, “Commencement
of international business and private jets operations through Quits
Aviation Centre at the MMIA: This is to inform your good office that
FAAN signed an MoU with M/S Quits located in the MMIA to begin
processing all business and private jets at the Quits Aviation Centre.
“Already, all relevant security agencies
involved in this operation have performed due diligence on the facility
and have given it a clean bill of health, and have subsequently
deployed their staff to the centre. In view of this, we hereby solicit
the cooperation of NAMA to direct all such flight to process at the new
facility.”
However, the General Manager, Corporate
Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said there was nothing like
barring private and chartered jet operators from the international wing
of the MMIA, noting that they were free to operate from there.
But a top official of FAAN, who did not
want his name to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak on
the matter, said the Federal Government had cancelled the MoU with the
FBO operator due to increasing pressure from various quarters over the
development.
He said the private jet owners and
chartered jet operators were free to go back and start flying through
the international wing of the MMIA.
However, findings by our correspondent
revealed that most of the private jet owners were not aware of this
development as most of them are still flying through the FBO facility.
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