FAAN to take delivery of bird strike fighting equipment to support airlines

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is set to take delivery of bird strike fighting equipment from Canada to support airline operators.

This is as the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), has lauded the current management in FAAN for its proactive measures in addressing the infrastructure challenges confronting their operations.

Speaking at a meeting with the executives and members of AON at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Two (MMIA2), Lagos on Tuesday, Olubunmi Kuku, Managing Director, FAAN, regretted the menace of bird strike incidents on the operations of the airline operators in the country.

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Kuku said that one of the major challenges faced by the current team on the assumption of office was the threat of bird strikes on the operation of the airlines.

She also agreed that the industry had numerous infrastructural challenges, but assured that the management was not relenting on its oars at tackling them headlong.

According to her, FAAN had devised a new means of tackling the menace of bird strike incidents.

She said that rather than the early morning cut of grasses method adopted by FAAN in the past, which attracted birds to the airports, the agency now cut grasses at night.

She further explained that FAAN in the next few weeks would take delivery of wildlife fighting equipment from Canada to tackle bird strikes at the airports.

She noted that this would drastically reduce the effect of birds on equipment, while also promoting safety and increasing the country’s rating in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

He said: “First of all, we looked at history; what has been happening and causing the high rate of bird strike incidents? Is it that we don’t have enough equipment to fight the birds?

“But now, it has changed because we adopted new techniques. Also, we decided to cut the grass at night because if you were cutting grass in the morning, the birds would be everywhere picking the insects. So, we have changed that. Also, we have acquired some wildlife fighting equipment to reduce the impact.

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“We were having so many reports on bird strike incidents daily, but now, we may not witness any incident even in two weeks across the country. And most bird strikes that we have now, are little birds that cause no damage to the aircraft.

“We are not thinking of sustaining the current trend, rather we want to improve on whatever we are doing now. We even have some equipment that is coming in from Canada. It’s not about sustaining it, but we are improving on it because we don’t want to go back to where we were before. What we are bringing is a new technology that is mounted on the vehicles, not stationary.”