All seems not well between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) over the closure of the domestic Runway 18 left at the Murtala Muhammed Airport for the installation of airfield lighting.
The airfield lighting which has been absent at the local airport was meant to aid domestic flights’ take-off and landing at night by the domestic airlines.
FAAN announced decisions to shut down the runway for three months which left the local operators with the option of taxiing through the longer runway for the international airlines burning extra fuel.
The operators in a letter by its president Alhaji (Dr.) Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina and addressed to the managing director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, and made available to the media expressed surprise at the failure of FAAN to carry them along before taking such a decision.
The airline operators lamented the decision to shut down the runway and how it has added an additional 10 to 15 per cent to an already saturated situation they are grappling with following the constant rise in the price of aviation fuel.
According to Yunusa, “The AON received with surprise, the Notice To Airmen (NOTAM) of 5th July 2022 informing the industry that FAAN would be closing the domestic runway (18L) of MMA from 08 July 2022, for a period of 90 days. With such short notice, we note sadly that FAAN then went ahead to close the runway, causing unsustainable additional operating costs and severely inconveniencing the airlines and passengers.
While welcoming the efforts by FAAN to install the runway lighting after over 15 years, the President added: “However, international best practice for such critical airfield infrastructure projects is for the airport operator to enter into discussions with all affected parties, to arrive at an optimal arrangement that allows the work to be done, while limiting the inconvenience, economic impact and safety implications on all concerned. In this instance, FAAN failed to do this.
“FAAN is aware of the current existential threat of runaway aviation fuel prices to the domestic airlines. The closure of the main domestic runway of MMA automatically adds an additional 10-15% more fuel costs per sector into and out of MMA, based on the additional flight and taxi time incurred as a result. The airlines have already felt these additional costs within the first week of the closure of the runway. This unnecessary burden is unsustainable for a 3-month period for the airlines.
“The closure of Runway 18L has led to a chain of direct flight delays on a daily basis, impacting the entire system of scheduled domestic flights in the country. FAAN is aware that most domestic flights originate from or pass through MMA at some point every day. This is an unnecessary additional negative outcome for the industry.
“AON contends that in line with international best practice, runways of airports are only closed when there is no other option. For infrastructure projects such as this one on 18L, to limit the impact on flight operations, FAAN ought to have ensured that the contractor does the work at night when the runway is not in use. If there is an absolute need for work to be done during daylight hours, then an agreement should have been reached with the runway users on what time window would allow this.
“For the major airport in Nigeria, AON notes with disappointment that Runway 18L has been closed for a week now, with no evidence of any work going on. Yet the airlines have been burdened with huge but unnecessary additional costs and flight delays. Surely this situation is not in the best interests of the industry.
“Moreover, the additional taxi time due to closure of runway 18L impacts negatively on airlines schedule to sunset airports around the country leading to delays and cancellation of flights to these airports.
Given the above critical concerns, the operators implored the management of FAAN to urgently review this closure of Runway 18L and enter into discussion with the users of the runway on a procedure for the project, that limits both the cost impact on airlines as well as disruption to normal flight operations.
AON, therefore, urged FAAN to convene an urgent stakeholders consultation meeting, to achieve the above.
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