FAAN: Osubi airport booms again as facilities restored
By Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo
The Osubi airport manager, Mr Winston Egwuatu says, almost all the abandoned facilities at the airport have been restored within twenty two months of taking over the running of the airport by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from private operators
Speaking in a chat with journalists at the NIGAV centre at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja on the forthcoming award in which the Osubi Airport was voted the best promising upcoming airport in the country, Egwuatu noted that there was nothing working at the airport when 22 of them were drafted to airport to revive it by the federal government
According to the Osubi airport boss, the former managers had no knowledge of airport operations and crumbled everything for the five years they managed it without electricity power, fire tender and lighting systems destroyed
He said it became a safety hazard for people to use the airport which led to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to close the airport
But Egwuatu expressed happiness that activities at the airport have been booming with five airlines operating at the Cat V Airport but not without the teething problems
He explained that the airport has only one old fire tender and a water tanker but applied some level of maintenance to keep them up to speed adding that all the airfield lighting systems have been replaced and calibrated
He noted that the runway has limited the airport as only light aircraft can fly to the airport but said there was room for expansion as the airport has enough land for development
Egwuatu also stated that the terminal building was too small for the comfort of passengers as it was constructed for charter operations before now
He lamented that the running of generating plants to power the airport has eaten deep into the finances of the airport as they operate the generating plants for 14 hours and from morning to night on special request.
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On how revenue was generated by the management of the airport, Egwuatu said the airport generated its revenue to sustain it adding that so many innovations were introduced such as building of shops and construction of a toll gate
Osubi Airport is owned by a joint venture partnership between the Federal government with share capital of 55 per cent and shoreline oil service company with 45 per cent formerly owned by Shell when the airport was established in 1999. The airport was initially owned by Shell with 45 per cent and 55 per cent by the government through the NNPC between 2014 and 2015 shell divested their interest from the faculty as a result of militancy in the area at that time by leaving Warri to Port-Harcourt by selling the property to shoreline
