After securing over N20 billion loan from Nigerian banks, and also investing several billions of naira to build the country’s first private airport terminal building, the management of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2), is struggling to recoup its investment due to the unwillingness of airlines to pay their dues, P.M.NEWS investigation has revealed.

The terminal building, an architectural masterpiece, was set up on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. Under the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement, the terminal building will be operated by Bi-Courtney for 36 years before it is handed over to the Federal Government of Nigeria. During the period, Dr. Wale Babalakin’s company is expected to recoup its investment and make profit.

But PM.NEWS checks, this week, show that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is colluding with some airlines to frustrate the project. The project, P.M.NEWS can reveal, may fail if nothing urgent is done. Last Friday, Bi-Courtney held a stakeholders’ meeting with airlines operating from MMA2. The meeting, presided over by Alex Van-Elk, Managing director of Bi-Courtney, was attended by representatives of all the airlines with the exception of Aero Contractor and Afrijet airlines.

A source at the meeting disclosed that it was deadlocked. The source said that during the meeting, Van-Elk informed the airlines of his plans to increase the Passenger Service Charge (PSC) which was promptly rejected by the airlines’ chiefs. Any passenger traveling from MMA2 pays N350 as passenger service charge to the airport operators. The money, P.M.NEWS discovered, is directly included in the ticket fare and remitted to the airline. But investigations have revealed that the airlines do not always remit the money to MMA2, as almost all of them are indebted to the airport operators.


Also affecting MMA2 is the presence of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT). It was discovered that under the concession agreement the federal government entered with Bi-Courtney, no other terminal building can be operated by FAAN at the Lagos local airport. But this agreement has been violated by FAAN officials who unofficially claim that they are obeying an order from above. The presence of GAT is affecting operations at MMA2, as more airlines are not attracted by some incentives.


P.M.NEWS authoritavely gathered that Bi-Courtney intends to increase its PSC from N350 to N1,000 in the next few months, to recoup its investment. It is also intending to create a separate office for PSC at the airport. The non remittance of PSC to MMA2 and the GAT terminal building that operate illegally is likely to affect the relationship between Bi-Courtney and the Nigerian banks. The Minister of Aviation, Mr. Babatunde Omotoba, recently disclosed that international airports in the country would be concessioned. But with FAAN frustrating the only private terminal operator in the business, other investors are likely to be scared away.

http://thepmnews.com/2009/03/25/mma2-faces-cash-crunch