The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has identified five imperatives for shaping next-generation African airports, with financial sustainability, intelligent infrastructure and operational resilience among priorities for the continent’s airport sector. Managing Director/Chief Executive, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Onabanjo-Kuku, outlined the priorities while delivering her welcome speech at the ACI Africa Regional Conference and Exhibition 2026 in Abuja.
Onabanjo-Kuku, who is also Vice President, Airports Council International Africa (ACI-Africa), said the conference theme should be treated as a strategic mandate. “The theme before us: ‘Next-Gen Airports: Driving Performance and Resilience’ is not merely a conference title. It is a strategic mandate. It is a call to action,” she said.
Financial sustainability must drive next-generation African airports
Onabanjo-Kuku placed financial sustainability at the centre of the next-generation airport model. She said African airports must reduce dependence on aeronautical charges while developing wider commercial opportunities around their facilities. “Our airports must become commercial ecosystems—anchors for logistics parks, hospitality, retail, data-driven services, and airport-city development,” she said. She added that land and connectivity around airports represented untapped economic potential.
The second imperative is intelligent infrastructure, with investment extending beyond terminals to systems that keep airports reliable. Onabanjo-Kuku cited predictive maintenance, dependable power, digital operational systems and data analytics as areas requiring attention. “The less visible investments often deliver the greatest returns,” she said. The third priority is operational resilience, which she said should be embedded in airport organisations rather than treated only as an emergency response.
“Resilience is not an emergency plan, it is an organisational capability,” she said. “The objective is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to reduce the time between disruption and effective response.” She called for redundancy, agility, intelligence and communication discipline across airport operations.
Human capital and partnerships will shape African airports
The fourth imperative is human capital, with Onabanjo-Kuku stressing that technology and infrastructure require competent personnel to deliver their full value. “Infrastructure depreciates; technology becomes obsolete; but a competent, accountable, and continuously learning workforce multiplies every investment,” she said. The FAAN chief executive said the authority had trained and certified more than 3,500 personnel through International Civil Aviation Organization and ACI programmes.
Partnerships form the fifth imperative. Onabanjo-Kuku said governments alone could not provide the investment, technology and expertise required to develop next-generation African airports. “We must build commercially viable partnerships with private investors, airlines, technology providers, logistics companies, and development finance institutions,” she said. She called for predictable, long-term and commercially disciplined frameworks for airport infrastructure investment.
FAAN seeks stronger airport investment
The call for partnerships comes as African aviation faces rising demand alongside funding and infrastructure constraints. Onabanjo-Kuku said governments should give airport leaders clear mandates, predictable resources and room to manage commercially, while maintaining accountability for measurable results. “Not every desirable project can be funded at once,” she said. “But the essential projects, the ones that protect safety, build capacity, generate revenue, and strengthen resilience, must not wait.”
She also urged airport leaders to prioritise projects that protect safety, increase capacity, generate revenue and strengthen resilience.
Rising demand increases pressure on African airports
The push for next-generation African airports comes as passenger demand grows across the continent. Onabanjo-Kuku cited International Air Transport Association data showing African airlines recorded a 6.4 per cent year-on-year increase in international passenger demand in July 2026, compared with a 0.1 per cent decline globally. IATA also reported that African carriers increased capacity by 9.0 per cent during the month.
Nigeria is also expanding, Onabanjo-Kuku said, ranking fourth-largest in Africa after recording more than 18.8 million domestic and international passengers in 2025. She said Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, recorded a 24.1 per cent increase in scheduled seat capacity in September among Africa’s 10 largest airports. Nigeria’s total scheduled airline capacity reached 1.19 million seats, representing a 37.4 per cent increase from September 2025.
For FAAN, the growth reinforces the need for airport infrastructure to develop alongside demand. The authority also achieved ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications in January 2026, according to Onabanjo-Kuku, while its Passenger Experience Hub focuses on speed, predictability, comfort and human assistance. “We recognise that airports are not merely infrastructure—they are experiences,” she said.
Onabanjo-Kuku also pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area and Single African Air Transport Market as frameworks capable of supporting greater regional connectivity. She challenged airport leaders to use the coming decade to build stronger infrastructure, commercial models, technology and human capacity. “The decade ahead belongs to Africa,” she said.
