Some business and transport operators at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, have decried high charges being imposed on them by the present management of the airport.
They have also accused the airport manager, Mr Felix Akinbinu, of high handedness for taking  the issue of revenue generation so high without minding what business operators go through.
A car hire service operator, Mr Daniel Igwe, said the rate at which charges have gone up at the Port Harcourt airport was outrageous, compared with other airports like Lagos and Abuja.
According to him, every individual car hire operator now pays N1.2 million yearly for doing business in Port Harcourt airport.
“How can we meet up with this kind of charges. This high charge is not obtainable in other airports across Nigeria.
“Mark it today, we will cause crisis here against this management one day because what they are doing is not right”, he said.
Also reacting, another car hire operator, who identified himself simply as Mr Ben, lamented that the situation at the airport was getting out of hand.
He said the present management of the airport was only interested in how to generate revenue and forcing people to pay excessively, without minding the difficulties experienced by airport users in raising such money.
“This is getting too much what we are paying here, is the reason why we don’t allow operators from outside, like the Bolt car hire operators to carry passengers here, and one day we will engage the management, because the charge is too high for a person to pay N1.2 million (per year).
“Go to other airports like in Lagos and Abuja, you find that other outside operators like Bolt are allowed to carry passengers, because their charge there is lower”, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the protocol personnel of Indorama Petrochemical, Chizi Okoro, has also decried the high rate of renting an office space at the airport terminal building.
“Can you imagine how a private business operator will be asked to pay N3 million per year to operate the shop.
“What are you going to sell there for you to make gain, and pay the rent? That is why the shops are still empty, and no one will take that risk. The whole thing is pointing to the fact that some people want to use this airport as their revenue base, and no wonder why they find their way back here, even after being transferred”, Okoro posited.
However, the airport manager, Felix Akinbinu, in an interview with aviation correspondents, explained that most of what people were decrying had been in operation before he assumed office.

He also said that the headquarters of FAAN set up a revenue committee that goes round the airports for revenue drive, adding that the closure of airports during Covid-19 lockdown, last year affected the revenue generation of airports negatively.

By: Corlins Walter