Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
Encyclopedia
Ikeja
Ikeja is an outer-ring suburb of the city of Lagos and capital of Lagos State. It is also one of Nigeria's 774 Local Government Areas . The Murtala Mohammed International Airport is located there...
, Lagos State
Lagos State
Lagos State is an administrative division of Nigeria, located in the southwestern part of the country. The smallest in area of Nigeria's states, Lagos State is the most populous state in Nigeria and arguably the most economically important state of the country and west Africa, containing Lagos, the...
.
History
Civil Aviation in Nigeria is a spin-off of the British Colonial rule. But above all else, it is a product of a mere accident of history dating back to 1925 in the unlikeliest of places - the ancient, walled city of Kano.Sometime in July of that year the Northern city was gripped by a tense stand-off between the residents and the colonial government officials.
The British government at the time was maintaining an active Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Khartoum, Sudan. On sensing the trouble in Kano, London swiftly signalled the commanding officer of the Khartoum RAF Squadron, instructing him to fly to the Northern Nigerian city and report on the situation. Flying a Bristol fighter, the pilot made a breath- taking but safe landing on the horse race course in Kano, thus going down in history as the first recorded aviation activity in Nigeria.
Without air routes, maps or radio communications the flight was regarded as "a particularly hazardous operation". So alarmed were officials that an idea was mooted that if Khartoum-Kano was ever to be made an air routes it would be necessary to have emergency landing grounds every 20 miles of the way.
Subsequent flights were to be originated from Cairo, Egypt where the RAF also had a base. The landings were so spectacular that one Kano resident was moved to paint the scene (the water colour picture was later acquired by the government). The RAF operations were later to become an annual event, with frequency and route extended to cover Maiduguri.
The earliest known commercial aviation activity in Nigeria is credited to one gentle man, "Bud" Carpenter, who owned the earliest type of the Light aircraft, de Havilland Moth. Records show that he frequently undertook high-risk flights between Kano and Lagos, using the rail tracks as his guide and piling up extra distance in the process.
In the early 1930s, an enterprising pilot carried a few fare-paying passengers in a seaplane between Lagos and Warri. With the continuation of the annual RPLF flights, aviation activities in Nigeria became quite considerable, creating the need for aerodromes.
Consequently, a representative of the Air Ministry in London visited Nigeria to inspect what could then be appropriately described as "landing grounds". Sites were selected at Maiduguri, Oshogbo, Lagos, Minna, Kano and Kaduna.
Wing Commander E. H. Coleman, one of the earliest observers of the evolution of civil aviation in Nigeria described the aerodromes thus:
It must be remembered, however that what was called an aerodrome in those days would by no means meet requirements for even some of the small aeroplanes of' modern times. In the early days it was considered necessary to construct several runways oriented in varying directions to avoid cross wind landings and take-offs, as the older type of tail-wheel aircraft was more prone to swing than the modern nose wheel types.
In 1935, the operations of the RAF were replaced by those of the Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...
that flew regular airmail and passengers from London to Nigeria. These services thus pioneered commercial international operations in Nigeria, although it was not until 1936 that commercial aviation actually came to Nigeria. The Imperial Airways, the forerunner of the British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation
The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
(BOAC), operated large four-engined aeroplanes, known as the Hannibal class or the Handley, on the Nile route from Cairo to Kisumu, Uganda. Towards the end of 1936, a once-weekly service was introduced and another route, Khartoum–Kano–Lagos, flight, which took seven days, was operated with a relatively small four-engined aircraft De Havilland 86 (one of the DH 86's well-known passengers was Sir Bernard Bourdillon, who flew on the first ever commercial flight from Lagos).
In Nigeria early Pilots were brave and had to weather the harsh harmattan and rainy conditions. But there was one peculiar emergency landing near Maiduguri in 1937. Engineers were promptly despatched from Kano. They arrived a day later on horseback with their tool kits. After some repairs the aircraft was flown out and again placed in service: Records show that it usually took a whole day to fly from Kano to Lagos in a DH8, considering its early technology and en-route refuelling stops.
WAAC was charged to "Develop air services in and between West African territories". The airline began services with a six-seater De Havilland Dove aircraft. Its Nigerian domestic services were operated with the Dove while the West Coast services were operated with Bristol Wayfarers. The control and administration of Civil Aviation were vested in the Directorates of Public Works of these countries who applied United Kingdom Colonial Air Navigator orders as their legislative authority.
On attaining independence in 1957 Ghana pulled out of the airline company, and in August 1958 the Nigerian government in partnership with BOAC and Elder Dempster lines formed the West African Airways Corporation (Nigeria) limited (which would later metamophorse into today's Nigeria Airways). This single, historic move heralded the genesis of the airline industry in Nigeria.
Maintenance
When dealing with the complete range of complex systems in use for safety of air traffic services in the environment, every minute detail is taken into account in planning for maintenance infrastructures and logistic support. The following are maintenance infrastructure and logistic support services necessary for efficient maintenance services that FAAN provides:- External/internal equipment monitoring devices
- Central aintenance workshop/laboratory
- Other logistic support systems
External/Internal Equipment Monitoring Devices
Currently, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria equipment/facility status and failure information are received through service operator/users reports and many other types of diverse monitoring devices However, with the determination of the Authority to improve services, more elaborate monitoring devices aimed at immediate detection of equipment/facility failures are now envisaged to cope with the increasing sophistication of various systems. The device with visual display in the equipment room will indicate the configuration of all associated equipment in real time
Research
This is a special dedicated workshop/laboratory where specific system maintenance is carried out to component-level. The maintenance, repairs, modification etc., of all analogue units are carried out with conventional measuring apparatus such as traditional multi-meters, generators, oscilloscopes, etc. The performance of these test instruments is checked and recalibration is carried out every two years.Logistics
The procurement, proper storage and easy retrieval of spare parts are a primary responsibility of the stores unit of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria. In view of the very large volume of spare parts stocked for every system, there are plans to computerize this sector in order to enhance performance. Other vital factors affecting FAAN's maintenance capabilities include the efficiency of public utilities like the National Electric Power Authority, NEPA (public power supply), The Nigerian Telecommunication (NITEL) and the various water boards.Airports
Owned and operated by FAAN:- Nnamdi Azikiwe International AirportNnamdi Azikiwe International AirportNnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is an international airport located in Abuja, FCT, Nigeria, and is the main airport serving the Nigerian capital city. It was named after Nigeria's first President, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. It consists of an international and a domestic terminal. Both terminals...
- Mallam Aminu Kano International AirportMallam Aminu Kano International AirportMallam Aminu Kano International Airport is located in Kano, a city in the Kano State of Nigeria. It is the main airport serving northern Nigeria and was named after Nigerian politician Aminu Kano. The airport consists of an international and a domestic terminal. Both terminals share the same...
- Murtala Muhammed International Airport
- Port Harcourt International AirportPort Harcourt International AirportPort Harcourt International Airport is an international airport located in Omagwa, a suburb of Port Harcourt city in Rivers State, Nigeria. The airport consists of a single terminal with separate facilities for international and domestic flights...
- Kaduna AirportKaduna AirportKaduna Airport is an airport serving Kaduna, a city in the Kaduna State of Nigeria. The airport consists of a single terminal.Kaduna also has an older airport located southeast of this newer airport.)-Airlines and destinations:-Accidents and incidents:...
- Maiduguri International AirportMaiduguri International AirportMaiduguri International Airport is an airport serving Maiduguri, a city in the Borno State of Nigeria.-Airlines and destinations:...
- Yakubu Gowon AirportYakubu Gowon AirportYakubu Gowon Airport , also known as Jos Airport, is an airport serving Jos, a city in the Plateau State of Nigeria.-Airlines and destinations:...
- Yola AirportYola AirportYola Airport is an airport serving Yola, a city in the Adamawa State of Nigeria. During 2007, this airport had 46,489 passengers movements, a decrease of 38.3% from previous year.-Airlines and destinations:...
- Sadiq Abubakar III International AirportSadiq Abubakar III International AirportSadiq Abubakar III International Airport or Sultan Saddik Abubakar Airport is an airport serving Sokoto, a city in the Sokoto State of Nigeria.-Airlines and destinations:...
- Margaret Ekpo International AirportMargaret Ekpo International AirportMargaret Ekpo International Airport , also known as Calabar Airport, is an airport serving Calabar, a city in Cross River State in Nigeria.-Airlines and destinations:...
- Akanu Ibiam International AirportAkanu Ibiam International AirportAkanu Ibiam International Airport , also known as Enugu Airport, is an airport serving Enugu, the capital city of Enugu State of Nigeria. The airport is named after the late Akanu Ibiam , a Medical Doctor and Statesman who hails from Afikpo in Ebonyi State.The Akanu Ibiam International Airport in...
- Sam Mbakwe International Cargo AirportSam Mbakwe International Cargo AirportSam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport , also known as Imo State Airport, is an airport serving Owerri, the capital city of Imo State in southern-eastern Nigeria. The airport is named in honor of a former governor and politician-philanthropist, the late Chief Sam Mbakwe of Imo State.-Facilities:The...
- Ibadan AirportIbadan AirportIbadan Airport is an airport serving Ibadan, a city in the Oyo State of Nigeria.-Airlines and destinations:*Overland Airways *Associated Aviation...