AON Laments Incessant Bird-Strikes

Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), on Friday, lamented the accidents caused by bird-strikes at both the Margaret Ekpo and Murtala Muhammed International Airports in Calabar and Ikeja, respectively.

Addressing newsmen in Ikeja, the Chairman, AON, Dr Steve Mahonwu, said AON’s members lost millions of naira regularly as a result of bird-strikes.

The chairman noted that a total of $400,000 was spent by airlines to repair aircraft engines damaged as a result of bird-strikes.

“Bird-strike is a bad phenomenon in the aviation sector, and it is not being checked by the authorities,’’ he said.

Mahonwu called on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to compensate  airlines by off-setting cost of repairs of its aircraft engines whenever such incidents occured.

According to him, it is part of the agency’s responsibility to prevent birds on the runway.

 “If birds were prevented from attacking our aircraft engines, the airline will not be talking about the financial losses incurred”.

“Government should look at this area because we the airlines are losing money from this bird-strike issue,’’ he said.