Capt. Eno Inah (rtd), the Commissioner for Aviation, Cross River State, in this interview with OLUSEGUN KOIKI, speaks on the plan of the State Government to construct an additional airport in the state, development of aviation industry, tourism, partnership with Aero Contractors and its collaboration with Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA), one of the conglomerates of Finchglow Holdings Ltd. Excerpts:
The Cross River State Government is following the footpath of its counterpart, Akwa Ibom by planning a state-owned airline, how far have you gone with this dream?
Cross River State Government currently has an airline, Cally Air, which is operated by Aero Contractors and the process of getting an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) for the carrier is ongoing.
We have approached the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development for the completion of the process.
The application is being attended to and bearing any further delays, I think in the next 90 days, we should have our Air Transport License (ATL) and the AOC will come thereafter.
How do you intend to get personnel for the airline when it eventually comes on stream?
For us in Cross River State, we plan to train at least 100 aviation personnel annually.
This will include cabin crew, pilots, flight dispatchers and other aspects of aviation industry professionals.
We have some pilots who are already undergoing training in preparation for the launch of the airline.
In fact, one of them is going for type-rating in the next one week at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
We are only waiting for the money to be paid into the account of the college by the State Government.
Also, we are willing to send some of our personnel to the Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA) when we commence the recruitment of workers for the airline.
There was a report recently that the Cross River State Government acquired two aircraft, when are you deploying these airplanes for use?
The state acquired two CRJ1000 aircraft for its operations.
The aircraft are on dry leases and we are yet to determine the kind of arrangement that we are going to have until our own license is out. For the two Boeing 737-300 aircraft in the fleet of Aero Contractors as dry lease equipment, the airline is doing everything; they have the staff, the management and we agreed on how much they would pay to the state for the time being. So, the processes for training our own staff in different types of aviation is being worked out and I think His Excellency Sen. Bassey Otu, the Governor of Cross River State is ready to roll out the programme.
In the second-year anniversary of the State Government, we had a summarised scorecard of the aviation sector.
Going forward, from this third year in his tenure, we are sure that we will be able to determine the number of personnel that we will train based on our expectations.
For the pilots, we are going to outsource them from the beginning; those who are already working in the industry, we can take off with them and gradually we train new ones for our airline.
In this sector, there are many trained personnel, including pilots and engineers who are unengaged, how do you intend to address this challenge through your airline?
Definitely, when we come on stream, we are going to take the ones that are already trained and working in the industry, irrespective of where they come from. In aviation, there is no chance for a mistake.
Every aircraft must be airworthy and the personnel must also be current. So, we are going to take the ones that we can take as time goes on.
I also have people who are pilots, but not type-rated yet, but as time goes on and as we acquire more aircraft, we are going to get more personnel and train them for the industry.
Is the State Government also working on having Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities as part of its aviation development?
The State Government has a plan to have its own Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities as part of its own aviation industry growth.
Don’t forget that we are also building a state-owned airport at Obudu with a three-kilometer runway airport.
We are two- kilometer gone with the construction of the runway. We also plan to establish an aviation college as part of our plans.
Those are things you don’t just say off hand. We want to construct an MRO that will have all the equipment to service all types of aircraft.
We have plans for it, but I don’t know how soon we are going to start, but definitely we will do it.
How soon should we be expecting the commissioning of Obudu Cargo Airport?
For Obudu Cargo Airport, we are targeting December 2025 for the completion of the project.
Many of the Nigerian airports are unviable, while several of the State governments hand over their airports to the Federal Government after completion, are you not afraid that Obudu Cargo Airport would eventually be one of them?
We can even add a third airport to the plan. If you are a regular traveller to outside the country, especially to Europe, you will know that we have airports with close proximity in Europe.
We have airports that are just there for maintenance purposes. I can tell you that there will be an additional airport even in Calabar soon. Don’t worry about Obudu Airport, we will complete it.
The Margaret Ekpo International Airport is constrained completely because there is no space for expansion, it’s inside the community and the neighbourhood is very close and right now, you cannot expand the runway.
Urban development has eaten into the place with lots of encroachment into the land.
In the future, the Calabar airport may be likely for the Air Force or may be when the President is flying to Calabar or anyone wants to meet with the governor, they can fly into that airport while the other ones will be purely for commercial aviation. Big aircraft as it is, can’t come to Calabar because of the small runway. And more so, it’s a Federal Government airport.
I can assure you that we will not hand over Obudu Cargo Airport to the government in the future, we are not like any other state. Cross River State is a pacesetter.
Other states are not positioned the way we are. We used to be the capital of this country. We have the most vibrant and largest street party in Africa.
And our tourism industry is fast developing like that of South Africa, we have Carnival Calabar and we have the ranch and once you climb it, you are no longer in Nigeria.
A lot of people will want to get an airport that is closer to where they are going. Travelling by road now is a problem because of high insecurity.
For us in Cross River State, I can assure you that we will never hand over the airport to the Federal Government. We will have a governor that will continue in the projects of the State Government.
Outside the coastline, we are at the depth of the Gulf of Guinea, that’s Sao Tome and Principe, there is Equatorial Guinea and others. If you can’t land in Calabar, you can land in Obudu airport.
Aero Contractors is operating Cally Air based on the agreement you signed with the airline, what can you say about this agreement?
We are very much at home with the agreement we have with Aero Contractors and there is no default from any of the two sides.
Our relationship with the management of Aero Contractors is very smooth, we don’t have issues with them. We are working hard to be an airline like them. They are setting the standards and raising the bar in the airline sub-sector.
We want to be able to operate at the same frequency as Aero Contractors and if possible, surpass them in the years to come because everything about life itself is competition.
If you are running your airline very well, people will fly with you and you can also go beyond the shores of this country.
What is your impression of the facilities of Lagos Aviation Academy after its tour?
I am highly impressed with the facilities at the Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA); its location, ambience and the environment too is cozy and good for learning.
We are an emerging aviation state because we are not up to five years and the school is already eight years with huge progress.
For us in Cross River State, presently, we have two aircraft, Boeing 737-300 and we are expecting delivery of two CRJ1000 aircraft soon. We are evolving with the academy and with what I have seen here, I won’t hesitate to write to His Excellency Sen. Bassey Otu, the Governor of Cross River State to send some of our staff for training at LAA.
First, it would save us foreign exchange expenses. It would be cost-friendly to train our staff here until we too have our own aviation school.
I am happy with what I am seeing in the school. Once they have the right certification, we will work with them for the training of our personnel in the aviation industry.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT
