US embassy cable - 05LAGOS1784

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 001784 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS FAA FOR ACONLEY, 
TRANSPORTATION FOR FAA; DAKAR PLEASE PASS TO FAA REP ED 
JONES; ROME PLEASE PASS TO TSA REP JOHN HALINSKI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2015 
TAGS: EAIR, EINV, PREL, NI 
SUBJECT: AVIATION MINISTER PUSHING FOR U.S. DIRECT ROUTE 
 
REF: LAGOS 1722 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne 
for reasons 1.4 (D). 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  The Consul General met Aviation Minister 
Borishade on November 21 for a readout on the aviation 
industry and to discuss the Minister's tentative plans to 
visit the Department of Transportation December 5-9.  His 
visit would focus on the same areas he planned to raise prior 
to the Bellview plane crash (reftel).  He stressed that his 
Ministry was working on rebuilding the Lagos airport runways 
to meet international standards, and emphasized he wanted 
U.S.-Nigeria direct air services.  However, Borishade 
stressed that he had no special interests in Virgin Nigeria's 
(VN) possible application with the Department of 
Transportation to establish a direct route.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) On November 21, Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade 
and Director General Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority 
(NCAA), Fidelis Onyeyiri, met Consul General Browne to 
discuss a possible December 5-9 trip to Washington to meet 
with officials from the Department of Transportation, Federal 
Aviation Authority, and other relevant agencies.  Not being 
very charitable in assessing the performance of his 
predecessor, Borishade stated that many fundamental reforms 
and clearly-needed infrastructure improvements had 
languished.  Consequently, he had to deal with the fallout 
from the poorly maintained runways at the Lagos airport.  The 
Minister who had to leave his perch in Abuja to personally 
oversee runway repair on a daily basis was able to sigh in 
relief at a job almost finished.  He stated that the right 
runway, which had been useable for months, would be ready for 
use in the next two weeks.  Once that was operative, 
attention would shift to the left runway which would have to 
be lengthened and resurfaced to allow it to handle larger 
aircraft.  He predicted the improvements to that strip would 
take until March/April 2006 to complete.  (Note: Maintenance 
work occurred on the runway at Lagos Murtala Muhammed 
International Airport (MMIA) from 1am-7am Saturday, November 
19 and Sunday, November 20 to repair cracks and potholes). 
 
3. (SBU) Borishade expressed interest in resumption of 
U.S.-Nigeria direct air services with Continental Airlines or 
another carrier.  After stating that Continental's rough 
episode here had been the handiwork of his predecessor and 
others who were no longer in the picture, he indicated he 
would like to meet Continental Airlines executives to 
persuade them to return to the Nigerian market.  He said he 
could assure them that President Obasanjo has taken a 
personal interest in making sure their application would be 
handled fairly and transparently.  If Continental demurred, 
he said he would like to open discussions with another U.S. 
carrier such as American Airlines or Northwest Airlines, both 
of which had expressed some interest years ago. 
 
4. (C) He indicated no interest in working with VN on a 
direct route, and expressed pleasure that Virgin Nigeria CEO, 
Simon Harford, had been replaced.  In fact, Borishade opined 
that Nigeria perhaps had not gotten the benefits expected of 
its relationships with Virgin Atlantic (VA) or VN.  He 
indicated that one of the reasons VN has temporized in 
submitting its application to the DOT for the direct route is 
that both VN and VA benefit from the current need for 
Nigerian travelers to pass through Europe, since London is 
the transit point of choice for most Nigerians. 
 
5. (SBU) Seconding a recent public statement by President 
Obasanjo, the Minister stated that there was a high degree of 
incompetence and corruption in the aviation parastatals.  The 
President has given him the green light to look outside the 
country in order to hire qualified expatriates to help with 
airport management and security, as well as runway 
maintenance and safety.  He hoped to raise this issue in 
meetings in Washington to solicit ideas and possible 
assistance from DOT. 
 
6. (C) Comment: Given the October 22 Bellview plane crash and 
the embarrassing disruptions caused by the runway problems, 
the Minister appears eager to take steps that will improve 
the functioning and public perception of the aviation 
industry and of his Ministry.  Clearly, resumption of 
U.S.-Nigeria direct air services would serve this purpose. 
Borishade appeared sincere in his desire to break bread with 
Continental Airlines.  But coaxing Continental to return is 
probably a hard sell.  Nevertheless, his hopes to meet in DC 
and discuss resumption of direct air services, USG assistance 
in strengthening runways and building aircraft maintenance 
facilities, improving the comprehensive Aviation Bill, 
beefing up safety requirements to meet Category 1 status, and 
updating DC on progress on the Bellview plane crash 
investigation are laudable.  Unlike his predecessor, he seems 
to want a good relationship with us and we should see if we 
can forge one with him.  End Comment. 
BROWNE