Regional flights are expected to soon move to Murtala Muhammed Airport terminal two (MMA2) in Lagos as the federal government has approved a settlement of a 20-year dispute with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.
- +Regional flights to move to MM2 as FG settles 20-year dispute with Bi-Courtney
This means that airlines would soon start operating regional flights from the facility.
This means that airlines would soon start operating regional flights from the facility.
This has been a longstanding issue in the concession of the facility to Bi-Courtney, the operator of MMA2, which had its approval to run regional flights withdrawn under President Goodluck Jonathan, the regime of the former, despite the company’s over N600 million investment.
Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, announced the development on Thursday after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo said the agreement, reached with Wale Babalakin, Bi-Courtney’s leader, resolves longstanding issues surrounding the concession of MMA2, which dates back to 2003.
“Council today approved the terms of the agreement we reached with Babalakin to settle all the vexed issues surrounding that airport,” the minister said.
He said one of the major points of contention was Bi-Courtney’s claim that the concession covered the adjacent MMA1 domestic terminal — a position upheld by the Supreme Court, which ordered the federal government to pay N132 billion plus interest.
According to him, Bi-Courtney has agreed to waive the debt, return MMA1 to federal government control, and drop exclusivity clauses blocking projects like Lekki Airport.
In return, the government has restored to the company the concession for a stalled hotel and conference centre project opposite MMA2.
“We gave it back to him. Complete and run it on a shared basis with the federal government. So it’s not even exclusive,” he said.
“So he has 24 months to complete that conference center and hotel. We told him we will not tolerate any delay again.”
The minister noted the deal also provides for the relocation of regional flight operations to MMA2 and activates revenue-sharing between the federal government and the concessionaire.
“Immediately after today, the federal government will now begin to earn its own share from the operations of MMA2,” Keyamo said.
