Private jet terminals put spotlight on airport revenue
by Oyetunji Abioye
Newly opened General Aviation Terminal at Abuja airport
Stakeholders
see the construction of private jet terminals as a proactive move. But
they want the Federal Government to design a robust revenue generation
plan for the terminals, OYETUNJI ABIOYE reports
The newly opened private jet terminal at
the Abuja Airport Private is the first of the six terminals that will
be opened in Kaduna, Enugu, Yola, Kano and Sokoto very soon. This has
brought to fore the need to generate more airport revenue from such
facilities for the sector.
Private jet terminal is called General
Aviation Terminals in air travel parlance globally. The GAT is usually
for owners and operators of private and chartered jets (or other lighter
aircraft).
Stakeholders have commended government’s
move in deciding to build separate airport terminals for the growing
private jet market in Nigeria.
However, industry analysts believe the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria needs to go a step further and
come up with plans on how it intends to generate more revenue from the
terminals.
They base their argument on the premise
that since most private jet owners and operators belong to the elite
class, governments globally design acceptable tools to capture airport
taxes and ancillary charges from the users of the terminals.
Industry analyst and Director of
Research and Statistics, Zenith Travels, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo, describes
the new construction as the most exciting news from “the FAAN after a
litany of wrong steps.”
“I just pray FAAN will muster the
political will to capture the requisite and required revenue from these
categories of aircraft operators and passengers. FAAN should be able to
fund the civil aviation, if it appropriately captures the revenue and
set the ground rules. It will pay the country if the system and
processes are not comprised and is properly audited.”
He also says “It is cheering news to
hear the ministry is reviewing laws that will govern the operation of
corporate jets and non schedule operators. These operators are the
cash-cow of civil aviation that are generally taxed, made to pay high
tariff for services rendered and do not enjoy palliatives or subsidies
designed for schedule operators.”
The Chief Executive Officer, Finum
Aviation Services, Mr. Sheri Kyari, says it may be difficult for
government to impose heavy tariff on the private operators and owners.
He, however, suggests that other ways
government can tap into the benefit of the growing private jet
sub-sector in the country is to through policy adjustments.
For instance, he says government can
make a law that will ensure that half of the total number of pilots and
cabin crew operating the private and chartered jets are Nigerians.
Kyari says it will generate more employment opportunities for Nigerians and stem the tide of capital flight.
According to him, the current situation
where foreign pilots and cabin crew dominate the private jet industry is
not good for the economy.
He says, “Most of those private jets are
foreign registered. Government can decide to say any foreign-registered
private jet that wants to fly in Nigeria for more than one month must
pay about $10,000 every month. Through that, we generate more money to
grow the industry.”
However, the Managing Director, FAAN,
Mr. George Uriesi, during the opening of the Abuja GAT (private jet
terminal), says government is set to shore up its internally generated
revenue, hence the decision to build six private jet terminals across
the country.
According to him, private jet flights have been experiencing the largest growth in aviation sector in the last two years.
He says, “The private jets owners and
operators are the most important to us now. This is why we are giving
them a separate terminal as done in other advanced countries. We intend
to generate robust revenue from the modern facilities we have installed
at the Abuja GAT here and the remaining five facilities being built in
other states. For instance, we will provide a Limo to carry the private
jet passengers from this modern GAT facility to the foot of the aircraft
after they have finished relaxing and are set to board. We will charge
them moderate fee for this.”
The FAAN boss laments that the infrastructure at the Abuja airport has decayed, just as some facilities have gone obsolete.
But Uriesi says, “Work on the
remodelling of this new General Aviation Terminal started in October,
2010 and was completed early this month. The project entailed the
expansion of the old domestic terminal and its conversion to a general
aviation terminal for non-scheduled flights. The new terminal has a full
complement of modern terminal facilities, including check-in counters,
shops, offices, duty rooms, conference centre, dining room, kitchen,
security screening machines and lounges, including a separate lounge for
pilots.
“Right now, scheduled and non-scheduled
flights at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport will take place at
two different terminals, creating opportunities for huge improvement in
service delivery by FAAN and other service providers in the aviation
industry. It is our hope that the completion of the first and second
phases of the airport remodelling project will transform Nigerian
airports into a haven for viable private investments. We hereby invite
all well meaning investors to join hands with government to hasten the
fulfilment of this dream.”
The FAAN boss pledges that never again would the airports be allowed to fall into such monumental decay.
His organisation, he assures, would
ensure that services at Nigerian airports do not fall short of
acceptable international standards, as set by the International Civil
Aviation organisation.
He called on all Nigerians, especially aviation stakeholders, to partner the government on the edifying endeavour.
The Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella
Oduah, also says that government will generate more revenue from its
current infrastructure upgrade at the airports.
She says, “The aviation road map, which
is a creation of this administration, is designed to revolutionalise the
aviation industry and increase revenue derivable from it by 300 per
cent. This entails institutionalising world class safety and security
standards, through institutional reforms, infrastructural development
and development of airport cities (aero-tropolis) that would transform
airports into major employment, shopping, trading, business, leisure and
cargo business destinations. I believe the commissioning of this
terminal is a sign that the aviation road map is beginning to take root
and the Nigerian economy will be better for it.”
The Deputy Senate President, Mr. Ike Ekweremadu, says he has nothing against Nigerians buying private jets.
He says there are several thousands of private jets currently in the United States at the moment.
He urged the aviation minister to
provide similar standard equipment being installed at the new private
jet terminals in other commercial terminals undergoing remodelling
across the country.
Source:The Punch
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