Managing Director,
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)
To achieve the objective of increasing aviation revenue and development of airports, sustained aggressive and well-crafted plan must be developed to make numerous airports across the country viable.
This was made known by the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mrs Olubunmi Kuku at a function in Lagos recently and reiterated through the forthcoming Airport Business Summit and Expo.
Mrs Kuku stated that it was not economically acceptable to have airports that are not able to pay electricity bills and maintenance costs scattered around the country.
She cited that most airports were sustained from the revenue generated from Abuja and Lagos airports, a situation that she has been working very hard to find a solution in solving the problem; is to start with refocusing airport managers from operational competent persons to airport business managers.
Kuku has been billed to lead other speakers to the two-day Airport Summit 2024, which will hold from August 20 to 22, 2024 at NIGAV Expo Event Centre at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Ikeja.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Airport Business Summit & Expo 2024, Mr Fortune Idu, has stated that the summit has been crafted around the airport viability pillar of and revenue optimization plan of the present administration
Idu said it could be achieved with the airport managers fully empowered through training, exposure and equipment to perform the task that goes beyond the procedures for managing and taking off aircraft.
He urged managers of Nigerian airports to remain focused and attract more passengers to the growth of air traffic in their airports.
Idu, who spoke in an interview with a select group of Aviation reporters in his office at the NIGAV centre at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos on the forthcoming Airport Business Summit and Expo, which has been shifted to August 20 to 22, called on airport Managers to come up with ideas for selling their products to investors, governments, and the communities around them by allowing them to have stakes.
According to Idu, if a portion of an airport strip is sold to a very big, tourism-oriented hotel, the hotel will attract traffic by increasing the number of passengers already on the plane.
He said airport managers should look simlingly beyond passenger flow, which they inherited as managers, but should be more business-oriented than from the operational pers manager
While commending most of the managers for doing good jobs in terms of operations at various airports, Idu called on them to be more business-conscious as part of the Aviation business structure.
Idu cautioned that when designing an airport, the type of business it can support should be considered so that the airport can balance aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue.
“Airports have vast land for business, and airport managers need to understand how to effectively utilize it to create revenue without creating an air transport-restrictive cluster around the airport.
Airports can design plans to increase traffic by examining relationships between airports, airlines, states, and investors to make it work for airport performance”.
According to Idu, the 2024 Airport Business Summit and Expo will focus on airport viability as a key to successful aviation business ambition.
The conference which will feature the Director General of NCAA and a host of other speakers.Chairman Avialog, and the Vice Chairman of ABSE, Dr Richard Aisuebeogun will moderate the event.
Over 15 speakers have confirmed their participation, with prominent International Airport Managers attending the workshop session,
