The Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has described as unfortunate the decision of the relevant aviation authorities to announce the closure of the runway 18L of the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport for the installation of airfield ground lighting without officially communicating to them.
President of NATCA, Mr Yomi Agoro took a swipe at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for embarking on such a big decision without reaching out to the controllers who would handle the stress of controlling aircraft with the use of one runway in an airport with the highest volume of traffic in the country while the installation lasts.
Agoro who frowned at the development and promised to get in touch with its Management, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and FAAN on the matter however assured that the Controllers would always do their best in ensuring flight safety because it is part of their oversight function.
According to Agoro: “It is so unfortunate what FAAN and NAMA Managements are doing. We are the ones that will feel the heat when the runway is closed, we are the ones at the centre stage of everything. I can tell you that the Association has not been officially informed, nobody is aware of it but at the same time we will try and reach out to FAAN and our management”.
With the closure of the runway a week ago, Agoro said, this would be an additional stress for those who are working in Lagos as taxing aircraft and maneuvering them from runway 18R at the international airport to the two terminals at the local airport, GAT and MM2 would be tedious for the Controllers.
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“Taxing to all those various apron is not going to be an easy task and you know that the centre taxiway is where you have to juggle the aircraft including the new terminal apron, so we are the ones at the verge of the heat. But have said that when decisions are taken they disregard the Association as if we are not existing. Have spoken to quite a number of Air traffic controllers, no venue to discuss, no meeting, no orientation, no training but all they did is to issue NOTAM”.
While seeking the cooperation and understanding of Nigerian pilots to also understand their situation even as he promised that the controllers would try as much as possible to ensure that traffic flow is managed appropriately, Agoro added: “Once that runway is closed, everybody will be entitled to run on the 18R. Most of the control would be done at the tower and the ground movement especially for those who would be working mostly in the morning, it will be a little bit cumbersome and it is going to generate a little bit of delay that is why am appealing to pilots to try as much as possible to be patient with our people and cooperate with controllers because it is going to be for while.
“We have told some of our members to braze up and see that safety is ensured and things work in an orderly manner. We only need to encourage our people to see how we can manage the situation pending the time the maintenance work is concluded”.
The NATCA President stated that, once the existing taxiways are okay and with pilot understanding and cooperation, there would be easy manureving of traffic within the existing movement area and there would be no problem.
He implored FAAN management to ensure that they keep to the stipulated time and ensure all the jobs are done within the time frame so that there would be no extension or delay.
He used the opportunity to make case for more air traffic controllers to be employed on the premise that the present numbers were grossly inadequate to manage the existing airports and the ones being built.
“Air traffic controllers are not people you run to the market to get. Already, we have been shouting that there is a serious manpower shortage, the Ministry and the NAMA are doing their best to recruit more hands and it is not simply because of the closure of the runway. Everyday new airports are coming up so definitely we need more hands.”
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