Kuku pushes FAAN, IATA greater collaboration for aviation growth
Sade Williams/Business a.m.
An enhanced collaboration between Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been triggered by Olubunmi Kuku, managing director and chief executive of FAAN who believes this would strengthen and promote the sustainable growth of Nigeria’s aviation industry.
Kuku, meeting with Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s vice-president for Africa and the Middle East, when the latter paid her a courtesy visit recently, at FAAN’s headquarters in Lagos, called for more regular meetings between both organisations as she sought IATA’s assistance in traffic development and any other areas necessary to ensure the success of FAAN’s operations and the sustainable growth of the aviation industry in Nigeria.
She assured her visitors that FAAN is fully committed to implementing IATA’s recommendations, ensuring that Nigerian airports continue to meet international benchmarks. Alawadhi responded by pledging IATA’s continued support to FAAN.
Alawadhi acknowledged the present administration’s significant improvements made at Nigerian airports and praised FAAN’s commitment to maintaining high standards of safety, security, and passenger experience. He underscored the importance of leveraging technology to upgrade security processes, such as checkpoint management, and expressed IATA’s interest in collaborating with FAAN on these initiatives. He highlighted IATA’s preference for utilising digital solutions to enhance passenger facilitation and improve information sharing between various agencies at the airport, which would contribute to operational efficiency and overall improved passenger experience.
The FAAN chief executive, in responding emphasised that the continuous improvement of security protocols is a top priority for FAAN under her leadership, particularly in an evolving global aviation landscape where safety is paramount.
She explained FAAN’s determination to adopt advanced security technologies and processes that protect passengers and streamline their airport experience while adding that FAAN is focused on making the airports more passenger-centric by improving customer service, eliminating complex check-in procedures, thereby reducing passenger facilitation time, and enhancing airport facilities.
Alawadhi led a five-man delegation of senior IATA officers, which included Samson Fatokun, the area manager for West & Central Africa; Kashif Khan, director of operations, safety and security for Africa and the Middle East; Mamadou Guebre, regional manager, customer experience & passenger facilitation, and Jennifer (Aisha) Yeates, assistant director, operational safety at IATA Africa and Middle East (AME).
Apart from the FAAN chief executive, other members of its management team present to receive the visitors were Abdullahi Mahmood, director of airport operations; Hycienth Ngwu, general manager, business development, amongst others.