Many passengers do not know when it happens. You land at the airport, the seat belt signs are left on and an announcement over the public address system instructs you to remain on your seat till the aircraft has come to a complete halt.

Well, the thing they fail to tell you is that the aircraft is being towed.

The practice of towing the aircraft to the aerobridge, which is the point to disembark passengers after landing, has raised concerns, though the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it is an added precautionary measure.

In other countries, airlines taxi their aircraft into the aerobridge but in Nigerian airports, airlines pay to have their aircraft hauled to the bridge.

BusinessDay findings show that airlines pay N985 million annually to tow their aircraft into the aerobridge. Experts say this money can be saved annually if the FAAN can simply link the aerobridge to the aircraft once the pilot lands.

According to the 2017 figures from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Organisation (NCAA) on passenger movement, international airlines operate 30 flights on the average every day from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA). This implies that in 365 days, the airport will process nothing less than 10,950 flights annually.

Ground handling companies charge airlines $250 per towing. This implies that airlines pay nothing less than $2,737,500 million every year to tow their aircraft into the finger. This amounts to N985,500,000, using an exchange of N360 to a dollar.   

BusinessDay gathers that the practice has continued because of the opportunity for commercial gain.

One investor had claimed it had volunteered to assist the concerned agencies fix the problem but they have refused because of the amount they realise from towing aircraft into the bridge on a daily basis.

But Henrietta Yakubu, general manager, public affairs, FAAN, said some airlines prefer to park in the open bay, and space constraints often resulted in towing. She assured that the issue would be addressed after the construction of the new terminals.

In other airports outside Lagos, aerobridge does not even exist, thereby forcing passengers to walk all the way to the airport terminals.

John Ojikutu, member of aviation industry think tank group, Aviation Round Table (ART), and chief executive of Centurion Securities, said the problem was more nuanced as the fingers in many Nigerian airports were built in 1975, and no improvement had been done on them to include an aerobridge.

Ojikutu said apart from the fingers in Abuja airport, the ones in other airports are out-dated and may not accommodate certain aircraft types if they are taxied. Thus, the airlines have no choice but to tow them into the finger

The expert said that certain types of aircraft do not lend well to taxing due to Nigeria’s peculiar airport infrastructure. For instance, in 2007, Airbus 340 had long wing fan and Emirates was flying Boeing 777. The two of them chose fingers that were closer to each other to park. The pilot alone cannot safely park that aircraft side by side with the other one. So, they park outside and the towing vehicle will come and tow them into the finger.

In the course of towing, the risk of vehicles used for the operation hitting the aircraft is heightened, Airlines like Airpeace has had complaints of this in the past.

The cost of fixing the engine of a 777 damaged in the process could well be over $20 million yet the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority does not have insurance cover for this operation.

Source: https://www.businessdayonline.com/news/article/aircraft-still-towed-point-disembarking-nigerian-airports/