Nigerian Airports no Graveyard for Planes

[-el-]

Unless in 17 days, government and "dead" plane owners agree on a befitting graveyard for disused aircraft, the threat to security posed by their presence and nuisance to airports would linger and the December 31 deadline of government to owners to remove them would just be another unmet date.

JULIANA was flying for the first time last week Saturday. She sat by the window of the flight from Lagos to Abuja. Her uncle who was "escorting" the 23-year-old Juliana, took delight in pointing out to her the landscape before the flight took off:

"Those rusty planes over there", as Udu pointed at the algae-infested planes in the horizon, "once provided flights and comfort as the plane we are in now. But the planes have gone the way of publicly owned Nigeria airways. The private airlines have abandoned them like human corpses on Nigerian cities".

Unknown to Udu and Juliana, the Federal Government and disused plane owners are in a tangle over choice of graveyard for the abandoned planes dotting all airports in the country. The government has once again given another deadline, December 31, to the owners to remove them from the airports.

Unlike vehicles on roads that can be easily towed to scrap wards, airplanes are bulky, large and not easily disposable as disused vehicles and the owners want the international convention of burial of disused planes to be respected.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which claims to be disturbed by the problem, says it is concerned with security and aesthetics of the airports.

But the owners of the planes are not moved and accuse FAAN of insincerity.

Across the nation's airports, aircraft of various types have become companion to airport workers, administrators, policy formulators and each year FAAN gives ultimatum to the owners.

The owners of the decrepit and abandoned planes are no ordinary Nigerians that could be intimated by ultimatum.

Some of the abandoned planes belong to Albarka, owned by Brig.-Gen. Muhammed Buba Marwa (rtd) who is now Nigeria's High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa; Okada Air is owned by Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, the Esama of Benin; Chanchangi is owned by business magnate, Alhaji Ahmadu Chanchangi; and Concorde Airlines was owned by late business mogul and philanthropist, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

Others are NICON Airways owned by Chief Jimoh Ibrahim, Chairman, Corporate Affairs Commission and Chairman, NICON Insurance Plc; Fresh Air by Captain Augustine Okon; Intercontinental Air, Dasab; Space World by Shipping magnate, Captain Israel Haastrup; late Alhaji Dan Kabo owned Kabo.

ADC has all its planes and operations grounded as it battles challenges of compensating families of its 2006 crash victims and Sosoliso Airlines also has similar problems as ADC's. Bellview also has about two planes, B737-300, parked in the area owing to some challenges it is currently going through.

Also Afrijet Airlines has its two MD-83 planes also parked there after it ceased operations two months ago, among several others, involving private jets.

In Kano Airport, Kabo is the king with many of its wide-body planes dotting all available space in the area. In Lagos Airport, particularly at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), many of the listed carriers have more than two planes each abandoned at the apron and majority of these planes are B737-200, MD-83 and BAC 1-11.

The situation at Benin Airport is an eyesore, with more than 19 BAC 1-11 and B727 planes owned by Okada Air littering the airport.

The airline, it would be recalled, operated with so much promise and complemented the efforts of the liquidated Nigeria Airways. It had the largest fleet of BAC 1-11 and B727, with over 29 planes in its fleet and took part in Hajj operations with its jumbo B747. Just like many after it, they went with the speed with which they came on the scene.

Many of the other carriers like Albarka and Dasab were said to have gone under due to the Federal Government's aviation policy of 2001 that barred the use of aircraft of over 22 years and BAC 1-11, as most of them had these planes in their fleet.

The government had taken the action following the crash of EAS in 2001 in Gwamaja, Kano, in which all the passengers, including a former Minister of Sports, Mark Aku, lost their lives. The government had argued, even before the report of the crash was made public, that the crash was due to the age of the plane. This however drew the ire of other stakeholders who faulted the claim that the age of the plane was the cause of the accident.

Most of those who had leased the planes shortly before the crash, lost their investment. The leasees were forced to abandon the planes at the airports. FAAN on the other hand had kept issuing ultimatum after ultimatum to the owners.

A closer look at the abandoned planes showed that corrosion has set in and many of them are beyond economic value except to be sold to aluminum smelters, who buy the "scraps" for peanuts.

Speaking to The Guardian in his office in Lagos, spokesman for FAAN, Akin Olukunle said the authority had been working on the issue, which he said is posing serious concern to aviation safety and security.

He said that between 2006 and now, FAAN had been working to remove many of them from the airports, but regretted that its actions had been met with resistance from the owners of the abandoned airplanes.

His words: "We have been working on this issue. Between 2006 and now, we have been able to remove many of them from the airports. However, our actions drew litigation, court judgments in our favour in the case of Okada Air in Benin, where the court ordered us to remove the abandoned planes. The owners are back in court, appealing the judgment. We can't do anything until judgment is disposed off. There are others who still have their aircraft in other airports, while others are in court with their creditors".

The Guardian