Relocation of airlines due to airport remodelling – FAAN

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria has said the recent relocation of airline offices to the upper floors of the Muritala Muhammed Airport is due to its ongoing remodelling of the airport.


The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, stated this on Monday in response to protests by foreign airlines on the relocation of their offices.

He said the movement was necessary as it would assist the planned expansion of selected terminals at the airport to improve activities aimed at delivering best services to airports users.

He also explained that the operators and stakeholders had been duly briefed by the authorities of the planned relocation.

Dati said, “The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria wishes to inform the public, especially aviation stakeholders, that airline offices located at the second floor of the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, are being relocated to the upper floors of the terminal as part of the ongoing remodelling exercise at the airport, which began last year.

“It will be recalled that the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr. George Uriesi, held a meeting with the relevant stakeholders affected by the relocation, during which he informed them about the need to relocate the affected airlines, long before the relocation exercise. At the meeting, FAAN discussed ways to ease the movements of the affected airlines, the representatives of which also made inputs on the movement.

“The planned relocation of the airlines offices will pave the way for the expansion of the E and D fingers at the terminals, to achieve a 25 per cent increment in the operational floor area. This will also help to increase the number of check-in counters to 40 and the Immigration counters to 40. At present, the airport has a total of 16 Immigration counters.”

Foreign airlines had protested against the relocation of their offices to the third floor of the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, stressing that the action was not in the interest of the airlines.

The President, Association of Foreign Airlines Representative of Nigeria, Mr. Kingsley Nwokoma, who expressed the dissatisfaction in a statement on Sunday, said stakeholders were not carried along by the relevant authorities before the move was embarked upon.