Upgrade airports’ navigation equipment now, stakeholders cry out

Following the about 50 per cent loss suffered by local airlines in Nigeria, which was caused by poor visibility occasioned by the seasonal harmattan haze, industry experts have asked the Federal Government to upgrade navigation equipment in Lagos, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; Calabar, Cross River State; and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, among others.
They lamented that despite the fact that air travel was usually at its peak during Yuletide, they couldn’t optimise most of their recent
investments as a result of flight delays and cancellations.
For instance, Air Peace, which controls about 40 per cent of market share, increased its fleet size from 10 to 24 aircraft, to cope with demand at the festive time.
Its eastern routes, like Benin, Uyo,
Calabar, Owerri and Enugu, received flight increase from two to six per day.
But in the period under review, most of the routes were not regularly accessed, as a result of poor visibility and risk to aircraft landing.
The spokesperson for the airline, Mr. Chris Iwarah, confirmed the cancellation of several flights on the Enugu, Calabar, Uyo, Benin, Akure and Port Harcourt routes.
According to him, except for Lagos-Abuja and Abuja-Lagos, several other routes were not accessed.
He said, “Even Enugu that we increased to about six flights daily could not be plied until Friday. Owerri has been the saving grace for Air Peace, with flights unable to go to Enugu (due to poor weather and runway repairs). The weather is not so clear in Owerri but it has been manageable in the last one week. The weather changes so easily in Port Harcourt and that is a problem for our operations too.
“There is very little the airline can do about bad weather but to keep appealing to our passengers to bear with us. Attacking airline officials or disrupting other operations can never be the solution.”
A chief operating officer of one of the airlines said that, for every cancelled flight, the company loses between N5 million and N12 million, depending on the size and type of the aircraft involved.
He appealed to the authorities to upgrade the Instrument Landing Systems at airports to Category 2 ILS, like in Lagos and Abuja
airports.
The Secretary-General, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative, Grp Cpt John Ojikutu (retd), noted that about 10 airports were recently installed with Category 2 ILS, to help aircraft land even at zero visibility and prevent haze-induced flight disruption.
He, however, asked: “What is the serviceability status of these navigation aids that are expected to be calibrated every six months?
Again, don’t you think that the major airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt are due for Category 3 ILS?
“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority should drive the process of safety services’ implementation for all operators and not the other way or the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency in this case.”
However, NCAA had issued a weather alert to all pilots and airline operators, urging caution on the “inherent danger” associated with the haze.
The General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said, “Besides air-to-ground visibility reducing considerably due to the haze, aerodrome visibility could also fall below the prescribed minimum, with blurred runways, markings and airfield lightings, and visual navigation becoming extremely difficult or impossible.
“Pilots are merely observing what is contained in the departure, en route and destination weather, which might sometimes necessitate outright cancellation.”