FAAN eyes incentives to lure investors to smaller airports

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it is looking at incentives and potential concessions to lure investors to smaller airports across the country.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, said this at the ongoing Airport Business Summit and Expo 2024 on Wednesday in Lagos.

Kuku said that some of the ways to do this was in terms of incentivising landing and parking fees at some of the smaller airports to allow airlines fly into them or use them as home base to drive market.

She said that this would make economic and commercial sense to the airlines, as well as making the airports viable.

“The congestion at Lagos airport has made it eminent to look at driving home base to other airports and increasing markets,” Kuku said.

Speaking on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and when FAAN would sign one, Kuku said that the authority was ready but the quality of service would be critically looked into with a baseline in mind.

“It is also very important that we really look through service quality and I know I have heard everyone talk about SLAs and when FAAN is going to sign one.

“I stand before you here today to say we are ready to sign a SLA. However, we will sign that SLA with a baseline in mind, and I agree that the SLAs position us for growth that are achievable.

“I also want to quickly state that where public-private partnerships have had a lot of progress, that is not the case, but that is where public-private partnerships have had significant success stories,” she said.

Kuku, however, said that all these would require approvals from the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development.

Comparing the infrastructure in Nigeria to its counterparts, Kuku said that the industry was barely scratching the surface, hence, the need to leverage technology and innovation.

According to her, the industry needs more investments, but government cannot provide what will sustain the industry but can only provide an enabling environment.

“I can categorically tell you that the investment that is needed to sustain the aviation sector in Nigeria cannot come from government.

“What I call on you for is, for us together, to explore the private sector model, the private sector models that actually work, and put in legal entity frameworks that allow those models to favour and protect FAAN.

The FAAN boss noted that talking about airport viability, the challenges facing the airlines should be put in perspective, as local airlines battled with fleet size, financial, insurance and Forex challenges.

She also said that some airports were operating below capacity, specifically Minna Airport that had 122 staff but was not operational.

She applauded the convener of the summit, Mr Fortune Idu.

It was reported that the summit had in attendence airport regulatory agencies, security agencies, unions, airport managers among other stakeholders.