July 2, 2018

A six-man Airport Council International (ACI) team, on Monday commenced inspection to ascertain safety and worthiness of  Kaduna Airport for full operation on international routes.

The inspection is coming few months ahead of the October deadline for the international safety certification of the airport for landing and taking off of aircrafts flying international routes.

The ACI team under the Airport Excellence (APEX) in Safety Programme is being led by Brahim Lakhifi from Morocco and members drawn from Cameroun, Ghana and Mauritius.

The team leader told newsmen shortly after a facility tour around the airport that the program was aimed at assisting Nigeria to improve its air travel infrastructure and facilities.

“We are here with a team of formal representatives from airports worldwide to work hand in hand with our colleagues at Kaduna airport to see whether there are areas of improvement and assistance.

“The team is also here to identify if there are challenges regarding international requirements and recommendations and practices.

“This is to enable the ACI to assist them identify the best corrective actions and measures to meet international best practices in the industry through improving the existing system,“ Lakhifi said.

He said: “from now we will start to work, we will split in three groups, one group will be in charge of the infrastructures, another group will deal with the RFF.

“The other group will go and review the full system of documentations’’.

He also said:“we already conducted such program in Port Harcourt.  I was with the other team last week at Enugu airport and now here in Kaduna. I am planning to come back for Abuja and Lagos.”

The Manager of the Kaduna International Airport, Mrs Amina Ozi-Salami said the team was at the airport to identify and help address gaps and requirements to meet global safety standards.

“They are here to take us through the process of certification which is expected to happen around September or October this year.

“When certified it is safe for any kind of aircraft to operate in and out of the Kaduna airport. What it means is that the Kaduna airport would join other airports with global safety standards’’, she said.

Ozi-Salami said the airport runway would soon undergo upgrading before the October deadline for certification of facilities, adding that all necessary measures are being taken to meet global demand.

According to her, the runway has not been upgraded for over 30 years.

She however said the air landing facility would be upgraded before the set deadline.

Earlier, the team leader and the Airport manager had signed an ACI declaration of commitment and collaboration document on behalf of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.