We have changed how airports operate in Nigeria – Bi-Courtney

In this special interview with PortNews, Mr. Remi Jibodu, Acting Chief Operating Officer/Head of Aeronautical and Cargo Services, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operator of Murtala Mohammed Airport Two (MMA2) at Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, speaks on various innovations and investments put in place by BASL to boost traveller’s experience at MMA2, challenges in airport operations and efforts to sustain relationships with key aviation regulatory agencies. Here is the interview for your enjoyment.

By Gboyega Oni

How has the journey been since MMA2 was inaugurated on April 7, 2007 with flight operations commencing on May 27?
It will be 18 years by May 2025 that we commenced operation, and I’m sure that the experience that both passengers and non-passengers have had, who have had contact with MMA2 speaks for itself. One of those things is, number one, that we have changed the way airports operate in the country, both in terms of passenger experience and also in terms of infrastructure and the way the airlines also operate at the airport.

 

It has been a fantastic journey, but you know, there is no journey that is so fantastic that does not have hiccups. Because we don’t operate in isolation or as an island, there are environmental, economical factors that once in a while will also hinder business. But what has been consistent is the resilience of the management of Bi-Courtney in managing the airport.

 First, you will agree with me that the experience which I mentioned earlier is one of those things that we are really proud of. For instance, where we started, in any domestic airport in Nigeria, we have aviabridge, which is a total experience for any passenger that has come to the airport. It means you have a seamless transition from the final departure into the aircraft without going through the open bay, which means you don’t see the sky or anything.

There is a seamless connection from the boarding gate into the aircraft with what we call the aviabridge. That has not happened anywhere before now, and I am not sure that there is any domestic airport that still has that.  There are some international airports, some with one or two.  But in terms of domestic airport, I have not seen any airport that has that now.

So that is the kind of experience that tomorrow a lot of passengers prefer to go with those airlines that could dock their aircraft into our aviabridge.

Number two is the fact that this infrastructure was designed to actually create a fantastic experience for the passengers right from the entrance, from the gates.  You will agree with me also, another first in the industry, is what we call the MSCP, which is a Multi-Story Car Park, which we have. And from that car park, you also have a seamless transition into the departure terminal or the departure hall.  So if you come in, for instance, you go through very seamlessly into our food court if you just want to relax, or you go into the ticketing hall.  And from that place, I also think even in the aviation industry, I mean domestic airport as well, before now, there is no one that was using an escalator.

There was an experience we started with. Seamlessly you connect, you choose between an escalator or the lift, or you still want to do an exercise, you go through the staircase into our final departure, you know you have another experience.

First of its kind also is the electronic gate, whereby you can only go into that place if you have your boarding passes, which is self-use.  So you don’t have any assistance. So if your boarding pass is open, that means you don’t have access to that place.

Those things are put together to ensure that there is security. We also have accountability and control. Aside from that, we also started with what we call the COPS, the Common User Passenger Service.

 What it does is basically for us to have all the airlines operating on one system in terms of checking. It makes checking to be very easy and seamless. That is connected to the electronic gate I’ve mentioned.

That if you cannot get checking clearance, you can’t go into that place. And also connected to our final departure, the final boarding gate. You still have to use your boarding pass to also get to that place.

These are things that we have put together and ensure that those areas we think we can concession out, we concession them out so that we concentrate on our core business. For instance, you see ground handling companies.  Two major ones are operating out here.

We have guidelines that we use to measure their performances and also be able to guide them in line with the regulations in the industry. This has been happening seamlessly. You have the motorized staircase, in those days we used the manual.

But now you have what’s there. We provided that from day one and that has given a good experience, even to the aircraft that are parked at the open bay. It doesn’t go through the aviabridge.

So what I can say, and I can go on and on, we have the VIP lounges. We have almost about four lounges here.  We have a particular one that is not just a paid lounge.  It’s a lounge that’s our partnership with the airlines. We call it the premium check-in area. And it’s majorly for airlines that think they want to have another extension in terms of experience for their passengers, which is basically for business class and premium passengers.

And what we have done, and I don’t think there’s anyone doing that, maybe even in West Africa, is basically to ensure that you can check in your business class passenger in a private area, which follows all the regulations of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. And even the FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC) are also present.  So you follow your check-in.

So what we have created there is to have a concierge service, whereby you don’t need to do anything.  You go into the place, we have the concierge associate, take your boarding pass from you, allow you to settle down, check you in.  You pass through the screening point, go to the other side where you can relax, and it’s either you do a pre-boarding or a post-boarding.

 So you don’t need to be agitated whether they are boarding or not because they will call your attention. And you’ll be taken privately to the foot of the aircraft or through the aviation bridges. These are some of the services we have created since we started in 2007.

And much more.  I’ve talked about the car park. I’ve talked about even creating business opportunities.

We have about 100 businesses operating out here.  And whether big or small, we have international brands that are here, both at the arrival, at the check-in area, at the final departure. And that’s one of those areas that we think that, when we talk about concession and using Bi-Courtney as a model, it has created a lot of commerce and jobs for a lot of people.

2024, for all businesses in Nigeria, was not that palatable to a certain extent. And you, as a terminal operator, can you say that 2024 was good for you while revealing your performance in 2024?
2024 was a very challenging year for every business in Nigeria, especially aviation industry where most of our costs are really dollarized, really dependent on foreign exchange.  So we are really, really heavily battered. But one thing I said when I started was that all of this has happened, but we have the resilience, especially with the visioner of this project, Dr. Wale Babalakin, SAN, who has continually given us motivation, given us words of wisdom and guidance that have really prepared us to ensure that what we are doing, under no circumstances, should we ever think that this will not work. So we continue to push forward. In 2024, there are so many things that happened. Aside from the fact that you know, also in 2024, we have Bellview Airline that stopped operation, and that created a very big vacuum in the industry till today, considering the number of passengers that they have been taking and servicing all these years.

 So, we don’t plan that at the beginning of the year;  we didn’t, but it happened. Again, we had to find a way to ensure that those vacuums were also filled. So 2024 was a very, very challenging year, but at the end of the day, as a matter of fact, we closed it fantastically with passengers. If you were here in December, you look at the 20 days of Christmas, we have beautiful decoration, which is also the number one in Nigeria in domestic industry. Where you have a sort of a Christmas village, you know, and every day you have fantastic music surprises.

So 2024, we closed it very well, despite the fact that we had a lot of challenges. And that’s the part I told you that we are very resilient, very creative and innovative to ensure that even when the mood of the nation is, you know, is sober, when you have passengers come here and get agitated, we have things that make them to feel welcome and calm, so that there are no agitations, especially when they are boarding the flight.

MMA2 handles about 35% of domestic flights in Lagos. It says that MMA2 is a profitable venture.  What does it say of indigenous entrepreneurship?

What is important is, number one, the vision. You understand, what kind of vision do you have, you know, and what kind of guidance have you provided? What model have you put in place?

All of this put together has made Bi-Courtney to be a fantastic model when it comes to PPP or concessions in Nigeria. And it has created, as I’ve said before, a lot of economic value, not directly, but both directly and indirectly to a lot of people that work in here. We have the carrier services, we have all the shops that you have here, about a hundred of them.

We still have a lot of people that just come here to come and do business, you know, travel agencies and airlines and all of that. So we have created this ecosystem, you know, which we believe that one way or the other has contributed to the GDP of Nigeria. You know, I will continue to do that.

So for me, indigenous participation in business, especially when it comes to PPP or concessioning, has been a fantastic experience and will every time contribute. There is no capital flight, there is no issue of people taking their money out there. It remains here and improves our economy. So I would encourage that should be done by the government.

Safety/security is crucial in aviation. Can you say you have met all the requirements and standards laid down by ICAO and NCAA in this regard?

What is important about that are that we can’t even operate if we don’t adhere strictly to regulations. We depart almost about 60 flights every day out of here. And we still have a lot of other arrivals.

 So the lives of people that fly is very important, not only to us, to the regulators and the Nigerian government. So we can’t even operate without having all of that being checked properly.

 In terms of security, let me take that one by one. This facility has a 24-hour surveillance when it comes to security. And it’s a place that we can boast and tell you that nothing can get missing here.  You can try us and you will understand what I mean. You can drop your phone anywhere. You know, we used to joke about it.  But people think probably we’re joking. It has been manned 24 hours.  And we have several cases that we have apprehended people, at every point in time, whether it’s morning, afternoon, or night. There are several cases. I can’t even, if I start talking about it, we won’t end it today.  You understand? Because we have surveillance everywhere.

 We have our men everywhere. We have the uniform and the plain clothes security men that you don’t even know whether they are security people.  And we also ensure that everywhere is well lighted. So we ensure to discourage, not to also just apprehend people, to discourage people from even doing that. And most of our systems are also well digitalized. That’s why Restricted Area is not where you can just go without being checked properly.

Even when you have, in terms of security, even here, we have very serious security coming in, checking, even final departure.  Even before you go into the aircraft again, we have a lot of concessionaires, aviation security, that’s to conduct their own secondary, security checks and all of that. So, it’s somewhere that is very safe and we are very proud of that.

In terms of safety, even in this facility, you realize that we have serious automated safety systems. I think very recently we had an alarm. Any alarm that goes off here, we have systems where we can monitor where exactly is this alarm blowing off so that there can be immediate reactions.

So it’s fully digitalized, you understand, and some areas that don’t have fire, you have automatic water dispensation immediately when you have those issues coming up there. So it is tight, you know, in terms of safety and we can see them around here. Some of them are here already.

One of those things you will see for, when it comes to concession, when private people handle such a thing, is to ensure that infrastructure is provided that will be able to handle all of this and ensure that regulation is being adhered to strictly.

Recently you embarked on a media tour. How successful was the media tour?
It was a fantastic experience. Very successful. The difference is in you telling your story and somebody telling your story, you know. When we tell our story, we say it with passion, with pride, especially because we’re very successful in the business that we do. So the trip has been a very fantastic experience.

It has made even the media community to be able to understand certain things that if they are written, it won’t be detailed. But we have explained all of this. So anything that is ambiguous about aviation, Bi-Courtney, we’ve unraveled all of that. All we need to do is to ensure that we continue to innovate.  So you continue to get new things from us at all times. So it has been a very fantastic experience and very successful.

What are your other business plans for this year?
Earlier you asked about 2024 and how we tried to survive.  We thank God that we survived and we closed the year fantastically. So this year is to ensure that we build on the existing infrastructure, services and experience.  And also expand some of our businesses we are doing presently.

If you come in here, you will realize that you’ve seen a lot of businesses, especially from the food court.  I’m not sure if you’ve passed through the food court.  We’re still bringing so much. We want to have a perfect mix in terms of the shops and tenants that we have here.  Things that you can never expect from a normal airport.

Aside from that, you will realize that recreation, we realize so many people are so serious and when they come to the airport, people just get so agitated and all of that. So we’re going to have a gaming lounge somewhere around here where people can play various kinds of games.  Fantastic games, electronic games and all of that.

While you’re waiting, we have an art gallery around there where I understand somebody was talking about heart therapy. When you go around the place, you’ll be able to calm yourself and all of that.

In terms of cargo operation as well, we know that we’re going to expand some area of our operations, especially looking at increasing capacity because you realize that one of the major problems we’re having around here is that the capacity is not adequate.

We have the cargo.  When you talk about Nigeria being an importing nation, this cargo has to be distributed all over Nigeria, but we have limited capacity because most of the aircraft, passenger aircraft that now have cargo, belly cargo, so it’s always subject to availability.  Most of the time, you see cargo that are not going.

 So one of those things we are looking at to see how we can extend that by encouraging fully cargo companies using freighter aircraft to be able to convey cargo from here to everywhere in the state of Nigeria. Those are some of the things that we have planned that we will do, and I can assure you, in terms of our offerings, we’re going to extend them. What I mean by extend is basically that the services we are offering now, we’re going to ensure that we’ve improved upon them and also look at areas that we can also benefit the passenger more than what we’ve been doing before now.

So we don’t want that to happen. Since 2007 that we’re talking about it now, I’m sure you have seen the escalator.  And you still go down the escalator, nothing has happened.

It’s not as if it doesn’t get worse, but we don’t allow you to get to that point. So we have a very good maintenance culture to ensure that all our facilities, and we want to actually improve on that. One of those things you see also is that you see a lot of automation in a lot of our services, like the car park, we are adding some automation, even though it’s automated now, but we are advancing the automation that we have there to have some sensors around there to capture, so that we increase the security that we provide at the airport. So you see a lot of that happening in most of the businesses that we do.

As an airport, you are placed under the supervision of some of our agencies, like FAAN, NAMA, and NCAA. How do you rate your personal relationship with them?

Well, our relationship with all those, we have a very good relationship with everybody. And that’s the truth. Most of the time they invite us for programs, we collaborate, they come here for a lot of programs.

When it comes to customer protection, we are under NCAA. We always communicate. When we have issues, we discuss them. They come in here and see how we can solve all those things.  So we have a very fantastic relationship. There is no how we can even operate seamlessly without having this kind of relationship.

 So we do that and we continue to see how we can extend that relationship. At every point in time, we have that opportunity.

What does it take for someone to work at MMA2 while taking into consideration the welfare package to boost work experience?

One thing that is important is that we ensure that everyone that works here has a very good welfare package. The experience you get from Bi-Courtney will really be an asset to you if you decide to leave.  Because  you know that there is no other domestic airport in Nigeria that is better than MMA2. That’s number one.

Working here gives you that leverage at every point in time. If you can work at MMA2 and you have delivered A to Z, why can’t you work in other airports, even in West Africa or in Europe or America?  Because whatever they do here is the same procedure that is carried out anywhere all over the world.

So for us, it’s an asset to work in Bi-Courtney.

How many airlines did you handle in 2024? And how many passengers passed through here?

I know that we have about 10 airlines. And on a daily basis, we have about 10,000 passengers pass through the terminal. We talk about departures and arrivals as well. But on a daily basis, we have up to that. But in terms of guests that come, we have about 15,000 footfall. Non-travelling passengers. People that come here to shop, to pick people. So we entertain that and for us to be able to accommodate those people and ensure everybody is safe and there are no issues on a daily basis.  You know that a lot of effort has been put into this.