At the recently held 27th annual conference of League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents in response to interview by Aviation journalists, Tosan Duncan,Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO), Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operators of Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos, said the best way to cope with emerging situations in aviation industry is through deployment of right technology, data and training of personnel in the sector.
Except:
What are the new strategies BASL is adopting to meet up with the changing times and challenges in the sector?
It sounds like a surprise if I say it is the old, tried and tested techniques that become the new strategies for the future. If we do not train the people that we have and give them the tools that they need, then we cannot move forward into the new global platform of embracing technology. So, it’s training, it’s tools and technology. That brings the trust that our passengers can have when it comes to the experience that they are looking for. The passenger is already anxious to track this. All he needs is for you to check him in with the technology and scan him out and get him on the aircraft safely and all the way to the other side.
So at the end of the day, if we do not embrace the new strategy of technology and using the data that we have to give the passenger a better experience, then you know we really haven’t begun the journey. So, at the end of the day, for MMA 2 and Bi-Courtney, as you say, on behalf of Dr. Wale Babalaki, one of the things that we’re doing is going for the on-time policy because it sounds old fashioned, but it’s the only way to go when we give the passenger the experience.
We’re going for enterprise resource solutions so that we can integrate our good governance and allow the efficiency to happen. We’re going for the infrastructure, expanding the runway, making sure that we’re actually ready for the capacity that’s coming. Fortunately, although we’ve got a good railway system in Nigeria and our road network, yes, it needs a little bit of re-engineering. The sky is actually the safest place to be. And so we as an airport and as a terminal are determined that the changing strategy with the changing times, we must be a global player.
*Unlike most of the infrastructure we have around the country that are not properly maintained, the reverse seems to be the case at MMA2, why expending so much resources on maintenance?*
Let’s begin with leadership. So again, not that I’m holding brief for our chairman, Dr. Wale Babalaki, but at the end of the day, when you have got a futuristic vision and you have got that determination to get not just to the end of that road, but beyond that is what has kept us going; sheer determination to keep good governance and leadership at bay. And the fact that I tell you, every day that we work, we are actually looking for continuous improvement and that is our mantra. So, it’s not easy, like you said, working in the public and the private, but that’s why it’s called a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). At the end of the day, we are very much open for that collaboration to go on. And with MMA 2 especially and the on-time policies that we are looking for and the enterprise resource solutions that we’re looking for, planned, preventive maintenance, that’s going to be our new mantra. We are also already getting ready for Christmas. It’s July, but we’re ready for Christmas because we know that if we don’t work into the future and work ahead of the game, then we are not going to be ready at all. These are some of the strategies that we are looking for.
