•  Agency’s total income may rise to N50.5b
• Plans disused aircraft removal in Ilorin, Kano, Kaduna

The automation of car parks at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), has boosted revenue from the car park by 68 per cent.

This is coming as the agency plans to replicate the idea in all the airports across the country in what is expected to boost the agency’s entire revenue by almost 10 per cent. FAAN’s revenue for 2017 was put at N45 billion.

Sources close to the agency said that currently, FAAN earns about N2 billion from aeronautical sources and N3.5 billion from non-aeronautical sources monthly from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

This amounts to N30 billion annually and N15 billion annually from other airports in the country, which represents a total amount of N45 billion per annum.

The Corporate Communications Manager FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu  in Lagos said that within one month of the automation exercise, the agency had recorded 68 per cent revenue increase.

FAAN said that the evacuation of disused aircraft at the nation’s airports would continue with the removal of unserviceable airplanes at the Aminu Kano International Airport (AKIA), Kano.

She explained that the automation exercise had blocked some of the loopholes in the system, stressing that FAAN was making more revenues than in the past from the GAT.

She said that with the automation of the car park, rowdiness and massive traffic associated with the manual collection at the park had disappeared.

She added that FAAN would review the performance of the exercise by the end of this quarter and make adjustments where necessary, but noted that so far, the new system had been in favour of both FAAN and the public.

FAAN commenced the automation of the GAT car park January 8, 2018, which eliminated the manual collection of toll that had been in existence for about two decades.

She said: “FAAN decided to overhaul the whole system and see how we could make it orderly because we were getting a lot of complaints from our passengers and airport users that they were not getting a space to park their vehicles. Then, we were wondering if all the people that park their vehicles at the car park are airport workers and travellers. Also, we are in an era of technology where people no longer do things manually, but automated. That was what prompted FAAN into doing the automation.

“And since we started, there has been a lot of sanity at the car park, there is a lot of orderliness, progression. As soon as you go into the airport, you just go into the car park without any issues. In time past, there were lots of queues. Once you get into the airport, if you are not dropping, you are encouraged to go to the car park and do your business there, rather than parking on the road and create traffic.”

Despite the automation of the car park, Yakubu said that FAAN would still continue with the planned construction of a multi-storey car park within the GAT terminal, stressing that such would further enhance revenue generation for the agency.

“As you know, FAAN just completed the construction of a multi storey car park at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. Plans are on ground too for the car park at the GAT. When we commence the construction, everyone would see it,” she said.

On the evacuation of disused aircraft at the Lagos Airport, she explained that the exercise had been completed in Lagos while the team, would move to Kano airport for the same exercise and subsequently move to Ilorin, Kaduna and others.

She added that FAAN was also working on the toilet facilities at the international wing of the Lagos Airport.

“The Wing D toilet fittings have been removed and completely replaced. Once we are done with Wing D, we shall move to Wing E. we are doing complete overhaul of the facilities so that we can have new toilets for users.

“We have been getting a lot of complaints from our customers on the state of our toilets. You know, MMA is an old airport and what we are doing is in line with our core value of comfort for passengers and other users of the airport. We felt it was necessary for us to remove them and replace with others while we are waiting for a new terminal,” she said.