Safety: Airline operators mull withdrawal of services over terror attack on Kaduna Airport

*The Nigerian airline operators have argued they are putting consumer safety ahead of business consideration in view of uncertainties in the Northern axis that have made commercial flight operations most risky in recent times

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Following the recent terrorist attack on the aviation facilities at the airport facilities, indigenous airlines are considering temporary suspension of flight operations to and fro the volatile Kaduna International Airport.

ConsumerConnect gathered the local airline operators, who are putting safety ahead of business consideration, said uncertainties in the northern axis have made commercial flight operations most risky.

Recall about 200 gunmen staged an attack on Kaduna International Airport, Kaduna, Saturday, March 26, 2022, killing an official of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and disrupting flight services for hours in the process.

The invasion, from the runway end of the airport, was repelled by the military, though it threw the airport in disarray and an Azman Air airplane was unable to take off due to sporadic gun battle around the aerodrome, report said.

However, as of Monday, March 28, Azman had suspended flight operations into the Kaduna Airport, pending the complete ease of tension in the much-troubled and volatile state in Northern Nigeria.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of one of the airlines said two aviation carriers managed to escape the attack in the “red zone”.

The COO reportedly stated: “That is a sufficient red flag for aviation. The assurance of the authorities that normalcy has been restored is difficult to rely on.

“Remember that about a year ago, the same bandits attacked staff quarters of aviation agencies at the same Kaduna airport.

“Now, they (bandits) are more daring with the invasion of the airside. That is a big risk that I don’t think any airline should undertake for now. So, if airlines are pulling out of Kaduna, you cannot blame them. Better be safe than be sorry.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has reassured that a combined team of anti-banditry military personnel and the crime investigation unit of the FAAN Aviation Security Department to forestall another onslaught on the airport.

Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs of FAAN, said: “Normalcy has since been restored at the airport. The team also recovered two motorbikes abandoned by the bandits.

“Additionally, a heavy reinforcement team from the Nigerian Defence Academy is on the ground to ensure the safety and security of airport workers and users.

“The FAAN AVSEC Department has equally released operational vehicles to the team for patrol purposes.”

Speaking on the Kaduna Airport incident, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (Rtd.), a foremost Nigerian aviation security expert, said the security breach was unfortunate, and it again signposted the volatile nature of aerodromes nationwide, coupled with attendant negligence of regulatory protocol.

Ojikutu observed that airports security is not about Kaduna Airport alone but every airport that is located within urban development areas and with complicated urban road networks, especially Lagos, Benin, Enugu, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and so on, reports The Guardian.

The expert stated: “I have said it before; who is watching over these areas of our economic importance? Aviation Security is a function of national security and intelligence is the first layer of the six layers of Aviation Security.

“How does FAAN get intelligence? Only from the NCAA, which should be a member of the National Aviation Security Committee as demanded by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Do we have one? Ask the NCAA.”

Ojikutu also said: “After the first attempt last year, the NCAA needed to have asked FAAN to review the Kaduna Airport Security Programme for review or release an Administrative Directive to FAAN to review the Security Programmes of all airports that could be targeted by the hoodlums or bandits while the NCAA itself would review the National Civil Aviation Security Process (NCASP).

“There is a lot to do on AVSEC at our airports with multiple security agencies operating at different levels of the airport defence layers without a unified control.”

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