Guardian

•FAAN raises panel on abandoned planes

AMID controversy trailing the Federal Government’s plans to acquire 30 aircraft for domestic airlines, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) the umbrella body of all domestic airlines in Nigeria, yesterday said it had not been informed of the plans by government to offer them any bail out.

Meanwhile, to ensure safety, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has inaugurated a task force on the disposal of abandoned aircraft across the nation’s airports.

Speaking on the planned purchase of the aircraft, the Managing Director of Capital Airline, Amos Akpan, cautioned that no person or institution should be given money to buy aircraft.

“When the operator identifies the aircraft that suites its operations, the operator should get Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to inspect and approve; the government should pay through its bank and retain the title of ownership while the airline is only the operator.

“The insurance must be paid by the title owner and he retains the right of first loss payee. Furthermore the scheduled maintenance checks must be financed or funded by the owner when the maintenance by calendar or by hours is due”.

According to him, the intervention procedure of buying aircraft for domestic airlines is not clear. I perceive another wrong application of good intentions.

Speaking in the same vein, AON’s Assistant Secretary-General, Muhammed Tukur, told journalists yesterday that they earlier requested for intervention under the former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration, which led to the N300 billion intervention two years ago.

He, however, added that this time around, neither the Ministry of Aviation nor the Presidency had officially informed them of their plans, adding that they only heard of it in the media.

He noted that such plans, if true, must not be hatched without carrying the affected operators and professionals along.

Most of the airports are littered with abandoned aircraft of different types with the owners and FAAN entangled in legal battle over the issue.

At the inaugural meeting, the task force called on owners of such abandoned aircraft to evacuate them immediately because of the danger posed by such.

The task force noted that some owners had responded to earlier appeals by the authority and were already making arrangement to evacuate them.