The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has commenced the evacuation of abandoned aircraft at the airside of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
General Manager, Corporate Communication, FAAN, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, in an interview with aviation reporters in Lagos, said at least, 13 aircraft belonging to different airlines have been abandoned at the airside of the airport for several years with their owners reluctant to relocate them despite several warnings issued by the agency in the past.
She observed that where the abandoned aircraft were presently constituted danger to safety and smooth operations of aircraft, adding that four of the abandoned aircraft were relocated last week Friday while additional four would be moved today.
She said: “As at Friday, we moved four aircraft from the airside and the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of Lagos airport told me again this morning THAT they are going to move another set of four aircraft. We have about 13 aircraft abandoned at the airside.
“We have taken the legal issues into consideration, if you agree with me; these aircraft are not helping us in anyway. They are taking up a lot of space. Space for aircraft landing and taking off are being taken by these aircraft”
Mrs Yakubu who noted that the relocation became necessary to give more space for airworthy aircraft to land, take off and manoeuvre as expected at the airside, insisted that FAAN would continue to take safety and comfort of airport users as a top priority.
“What we are doing is part of the services FAAN is providing; comfort and security. So, for security, these aircraft have been abandoned at the airport for long and miscreants can just go in there and do whatever they want. We want our airports to look beautiful and fine, the aircraft that are littered around, it defaces the beauty of our airside.”
“What we had in the past was that the ‘Follow Me’ vehicle used to be in the front of aircraft, but we have decided to reverse the order. The vehicles are now at the back of the aircraft to ensure that the aircraft go to parking bay without any incident or aircraft poaching,” she added.
She also disclosed that plans had reached an advanced stage for the agency to install Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at the strategic locations within the airside in order to forestall aircraft poaching and other incidences to further improve security at that part of the airport.
Apart from this, she explained FAAN had embarked on grass cutting at the airside to ensure improved safety within that area of airport.
The abandoned aircraft belongs to Associated Air, IRS, Dana Air and Hak Air.
Others include, Air Nigeria, Associated Cargo, Bellview, JedAir, Precision Aviation Handling Company and PAC, TopBrass and
