NigerianFLIGHTDECK Travel and Business Reportage 
PRESIDENT of Airports Council International-Africa (ACI-Africa), Engineer Saleh Dunoma has stated the Council’s intent on optimizing revenue growth among member countries and has reiterated its commitment to improve of safety, security and sustainable development of aviation in Africa.
Dunoma who gave the opening remark at 61st ACI-Africa Board and Committees Meeting and Regional Conference and Exhibition, Luxor, Egypt with theme: Boosting Airport Growth by Non-Aeronautical Revenue, said ACI is developing programs to aid the region’s airports boost their revenue.
Dunoma, who is also Managing director of FAAN, also said that apart from revenue ensuring the strategic objective of contributing to the improvement of safety and security could also not be over-emphasized.
According to him, airports are currently facing limited opportunities to raise non-aeronautical revenue. A focus on non-aeronautical revenue has become an imperative airports need to develop the necessary strategies to introduce new innovative products, diversify the portfolio and create new sources of revenue.
“We have heard about the importance of developing non-aeronautical revenue for the region’s airports and how this programme is tailored to help our members to boost their commercial revenues. We have much planned over the course of the next two days but I’d like to take a moment to showcase, as ACI Africa’s President, some of the ways in which our Regional office is helping our members remain healthy and sustainable.”
Before opening up the conference to discuss the main challenges facing African airports and how non-aeronautical revenues can be a stable source to reduce use of airport charges to finance future airport development, Dunoma listed some of the areas where the ACI has deemed fit to intervene.
He said the ACI-Africa’s raison d’ être is to serve members, emphasizing that its Airports Development Programme continues to assist members to improve and meet challenges related to security and facilitation, safety and airport operations.
Dunoma said, ” ACI’s Global Training offers a specific course on Airport Non-Aeronautical Revenues. The course aims to increase participant knowledge in regard to global best practices to optimize revenue development.”
“…And in coordination with the Developing Nations Airports Assistance Programme (DNA), the Airport Excellence Programme (APEX Programme) and ACI Global Training, ACI Africa has launched an aerodrome-inspector training programme called the APEX Safety Auditor Training Programme.”
“For those few of you that have not heard about APEX, ACI’s staple programme is a peer review process that helps members comply with ICAO standards, national regulations and ACI best practices in the realm of Safety and Security
“And so the APEX Safety Auditor Training Programme is specifically for ACI’s African airports personnel. It provides airports with safety experts and creates a group of African experts who will participate in different APEX missions on the continent as programme partners. Through this programme ACI Africa intends to help its members improve their safety levels and contribute to the certification of airports in accordance with the 2012 Abuja Ministerial Declaration.”
“At the end of the day, we are stronger together. Airports helping airports is what ACI is all about and I hope to have shown some of the ways in which ACI Africa contributes to the global community of airports. In the context of this event, airports in Africa must now come together to boot their non-aeronautical revenues,”he stated.
