Bunmi Kuku
For decades, travelling to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos has been the real journey – hours in traffic, chaos at the entrance, and a terminal that has not seen major upgrade since it was built. That story is about to change.
At the World Aviation Festival in Lisbon, Portugal, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Olubunmi Onabanjo-Kuku, came with good news for Lagos passengers, and she came with a plan.
Speaking as a Keynote Panellist under the theme ‘Defining the Airport of the Future – Technology, Partnerships and People’, Kuku disclosed that discussions on financing the extension of the Lagos Mass Transit Red Line Rail into MMIA are now at an advanced stage.
“We are actually working on completing the financing of the capital structure for that project,” she announced.
It is a game-changer. The Federal Government, in collaboration with FAAN and the Lagos State Government, plans to build a dedicated rail track that will link all three terminals of Lagos airport directly to the Red Line, with five stops within the airport itself – connecting passenger terminals and linking the cargo terminals to the last stop.
What it means in plain language: you will soon be able to board a train in the heart of Lagos and alight inside the airport, fast, predictable, and stress-free. No more missing flights because of gridlock on Agege Motor Road.
For an airport that handles 68% of all air traffic in Nigeria, according to the FAAN boss, the rail link is not luxury, it is necessity.
But that is not all. Kuku also gave insights into the bigger picture – the total modernisation of MMIA itself.
For the flagship airport, Terminal 1 is being completely gutted – not expanded, but made smarter, more efficient and more passenger-friendly. The entire layout is changing: immigration, customs, number of counters, flow of passengers, all being re-designed with modern technology and infrastructure to make travel easier.
“The MMIA has had no major infrastructure upgrade since it was built. We have just embarked on that upgrade,” she told the world aviation community.
She explained FAAN’s threefold investment strategy focused on safety first, especially airside operations, noting that in the last three years, the Authority has focused on rehabilitating major airports, including resurfacing runways and installing improved airfield lighting systems in two of Nigeria’s six international airports – Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Enugu and Maiduguri.
She put it in context: “Three airports account for 80% of the traffic, but I still have 19 other airports and five other airports that I’m supporting that I also need to prioritise.”
“In Nigeria, we see air transport not just as a mode of transportation, but also as economic viability and support. Air transport has also become one of our safest means of travel.”
From Lisbon to Lagos, the message is clear: the airport of the future is no longer a PowerPoint idea. It is being financed, it is being built, and it is coming to Lagos.
A rail that connects the city to the airport. A terminal that respects the passenger. An airside that guarantees safety.
For Lagos air travellers long used to the old story of stress and struggle, good times are finally ahead – and the train to that future has already left the station.
