The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)
says the newly completed terminal building at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, will
process 15 million passengers annually when it
begins operations. Mr Saleh Dunoma, the Managing Director of FAAN,
told Newsmen on Sunday in Abuja that the
terminal building was designed essentially to
transport passengers. He said the terminal building would be
inaugurated on Dec. 20 to enhance the
operational capacity of the airport.The FAAN boss disclosed that the current
carrying capacity of the airport was 7.5 million
passengers per annum. He said that the inauguration of the new terminal
would bring about expansion to the airport. He said that passengers would begin to enjoy
comfort and efficient services, saying the terminal
was built and equipped with modern facilities
such as modern check-in, baggage handling and
security facilities. “Currently, Abuja is doing like 7.5 million
passengers annually in the old terminal, both
domestic and international. He said that the nation now had a terminal that
can process 15 million passengers which he
described as a great departure from what it had
before. “It is essentially designed for passengers, it is not
the kind of terminal where you have several
offices and aviances, it is just designed for
passenger purposes and duty offices only. “So, most of the offices are going to remain in the
old facility and then we will provide posts for the
agencies that will participate in the processing of
passengers. “All the passenger-handling facilities like the
modern security equipment that are important
for security are available in the new terminal. “We have modern check-in facility, we have
modern baggage handling facility, and we have
modern security surveillance gadget in the
terminal. “It is a lot of departure from what we had in the
existing facility and the arrangement is for the
passenger-flow to be more efficient than what
we had in the old terminal building,’’ he said. Dunoma said that there were plans to make sure
that the old and new terminals work together to
ensure connectivity. According to him, the authority will change its
modalities of operations by providing free
trolleys and WiFi services for all passengers in the
new terminal. He added that the new terminal would attract
more passengers and patronage from more
international airlines. He said that there had been applications for
additional frequencies into Abuja by some
airlines. The FAAN boss said that authority had decided
to delay granting such approvals because of the
limited capacity and in order not to create
congestions pending when the new facility
would become operational. NAN reports that the Abuja Airport is one of the
four new terminals being constructed at the cost
of $600 million by the China Civil Engineering
and Construction Company (CCECC) under the
Export-Import Bank of China loan. The others are in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano
and are being financed from the $500 million
loan from China-Exim bank and $100 million
counterpart funding from the Federal
Government. President Muhammadu Buhari had in October
inaugurated the one in Port Harcourt while the
remaining two are expected to be opened for
operations in 2019.