BusinessDay... the voice of business: Operators urge government to upgrade facilities at Benin Airport

Operators urge government to upgrade facilities at Benin Airport
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IDRIS UMAR MOMOH on 16 April, 2008 12:00:00
 
Airlines operating in Benin Airport have appealed to the Federal Government to
upgrade facilities in the airport for smooth and effective operations.
The management of Arik and Aero Contractors airlines who spoke through Ketsey
Fidei Egwaleona, station manager, Arik, and Alexander Ayande, station operations
officer, Aero Contractor, respectively, to Business Day in Benin City, said the
upgrading of the facilities had become necessary because of the patronage the
airport was getting from passengers in recent time.
According to them, the airport appears to be too small and needs to be
expanded, and facilities upgraded because the facilities on ground are old and
outdated. The airport is actually booming now.
Before now, there used to be one airline but today there are about five, and
more are still expected. This calls for urgent attention from the government.
The operators apart from calling for facilities upgrade are also appealing to
the government to release money to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) to construct administrative block to take care of operations of the
various airlines staff in the airport.
Till now, operators are operating from a cubicle that needs to be detached from
the departure hall.
“We appealed to the Federal Government to give money to the management of
FAAN to build administrative department.
In an airport you only come to the departure hall for checking in, but here in
Benin Airport it is not so because there is no provision for that presently. So,
if the Federal Government can do something about it and build administrative
office different from the departure hall it will be a good thing,” they said.
They however thanked the management of FAAN for finding it necessary to
rehabilitate the runways which had been in bad state before now, describing it
as timely and well considered for the betterment of the airport and its users.