Airline operators raise concern on rising aircraft ramp collisions

Last week’s collision on Air Peace’s aircraft by a staff of the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) PLC has brought to the fore the need for a re-evaluation of the safety system in the airside of the nation’s airports. 

Daily Trust reports that there was a disruption of flight operations when NAHCO equipment rammed into an aircraft belonging to Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos thereby grounding the aircraft.   

Air Peace said it suspected sabotage as that was the third time in one month that equipment belonging to the ground handling firm destroyed its aircraft.    

Usually, when an incident like that happened, the aircraft is grounded until a check was conducted and it is recertified safe for flights.   

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Specifically, the aircraft elevator was damaged by the NAHCO stairs equipment.   

Our correspondent learnt that the incident affected many routes that the aircraft had been positioned to serve that day.   

Before the incident, the aircraft was scheduled to ferry passengers from Lagos to Owerri for a 7am flight, while the same plane was positioned for about 10 flights on the day of the incident.    

The spokesman of Air Peace, Stanley Olisa said, “This is the third time in one month.  The aircraft is now grounded and we don’t know when it will be up again. The NAHCO staff had no reason to be where he was. He was not assigned to the aircraft and how he rammed into our aircraft is still shocking.” 

Following the development, NAHCO issued a statement suspending the staff while commissioning an investigation into the incident. It also invited authorities to probe the allegation of sabotage. 

The Group Executive Director, Business and Corporate Services, Dr Sola Obabori, in a statement said, “We have invited the relevant regulatory and security agencies to swing into action and especially investigate the subject of sabotage and take an independent look at the incident.  

“To enable proper and unhindered investigation, some senior operations officials have been suspended, while some others are being investigated.” 

Our correspondent reports that several ramp incidents have been recorded in the past in the industry with either a ground equipment impacting on an aircraft or another aircraft hitting a parked aircraft while taxiing on the tarmac. 

While such destructions caused during ramp incidents are usually taken up by the insurance firms, it, more often than not, disrupts airlines’ planning for the day.    

It would be recalled that in 2021, another handling equipment destroyed a Max Air’s aircraft in Maiduguri, Borno State, thereby grounding the aircraft and causing chaos at the airport. Similar incident was reported in Benin, Edo State when another Max Air plane rammed into an Air Peace aircraft.     

Airlines lose millions over ramp incidents 

The frequency of ramp incidents in the aviation industry has cost airlines millions of naira as they are forced to suspend flights to be carried out by the grounded aircraft thereby causing a loss of revenues. 

On last week’s incident, Air Peace said it lost N100 million.  

An executive of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Barr. Shehu Wada, described the damage to the Air Peace aircraft as “madness’’. According to him, it was unbelievable that such a thing could happen when the equipment was not carrying out any checks on the aircraft.  

He recalled the incident involving Max Air in Abuja in 2021 when Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) equipment rammed into its aircraft, saying it created a crisis for the airline.  

Wada said: “This is what we are experiencing every day. It also happened to Azman Air and so many other airlines. We need to find a permanent solution to this. NCAA needs to step in to reduce these incidents.” 

He also charged ground handling firms to install modern equipment like sensors in their facilities to reduce incidents.  

Experts speak 

The president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association, Capt. Alex Nwuba, said another solution to the issue lies in the expansion of the ramp spaces by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) given the number of aircraft coming into the market.   

He also called for adequate training of staff on the airside especially the drivers of handling equipment.   

He said, “These incidents are caused mainly by the tightness of the ramp. There is a huge number of aircraft coming into the market without expanding the facilities that would be used. For instance, we had a lot of A320s coming during the holiday period and the ramp was crowded. In the morning you see a lot of aircraft trying to move. 

“These incidents are avoidable by additional training. And also we have to talk about insurance. If there is adequate insurance, we would not be shouting. Air Peace is shouting now because it is likely to pick up the bill on its damage. 

“But FAAN is looking to expand its facilities. Expanding those facilities would reduce to a great extent some of these incidents.” 

He said the cost of the damage is incalculable.  

“In aviation, you don’t just look at the cost of the damage, you also look at the loss of income. When these aircraft are damaged, the airlines can’t make money to pay their bills. So apart from the damage to the aircraft, you also have the challenge of the loss of income especially in this business when the income is very tight and when turnaround needs to be really fast. There would be no maximum utilisation of the aircraft as it would be grounded for some time.” 

On the issue of airside staff, he said there was a need to improve the training of drivers on the airside. According to him, anyone to be employed as a driver on the airside must have gone to FAAN training school, “There is a need for additional training, additional responsibilities.” 

A foremost aviator, Capt. Oladeji Folayan, also called for continual training of airside staff as the only solution. He said, “We pioneered the first Airside Safety Training for movement of vehicles and ground support equipment on the airside during initial FAA category 1 status for the Nigerian Aviation sector.” 

According to him, based on the training, the problem of equipment colliding with aircraft reduced drastically to almost ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) across the country’s airports. 

“The immediate solution in my view is to review the training syllabus to accommodate inclusion of industry updates.  It’s just simple. No serious investment to reinvent wheels. Human decision is the main focus of the collisions.”    

A former Commander of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, rtd, said: “There are practices and there are national regulations; there is an authority to enforce and oversee complaints of all the relevant operators to the regulations. Where there is any negligence or inappropriate complaints to the regulators by any of the operators, the appropriate sanction in the regulations is applied by the responsible authority.  

“There are appropriate procedures for investigating every incident and when recommendations are made, especially for safety, corrective action must be taken within a specific time.” 

But the spokesman of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr Sam Adurogboye, speaking with Daily Trust, said he was not aware if a report had been filed to the regulatory authority over the incident. He said NCAA would look into the issue when it was brought to its attention.