By Chinelo Obogo
Calabar, the Cross River state capital, is currently facing an air travel crisis.
Persistent flight shortages have forced residents to undertake risky boat trips to Uyo, its closest neighbour, just to catch flights to other states.
The challenge has lingered for a while as there are no airlines operating daily flights into Calabar, an ancient city that was once the pearl of the south-south.
However, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Cross River State on Aviation, Dr. Kenn Aklah, told Daily Sun in a recent interview, that the issue has fostered a misleading perception of low travel demand from the state capital. He emphasised that the actual demand for flights from Calabar is significantly higher than currently acknowledged.
He added that the state is severely underserved, with flights from Uyo often filled by Cross Riverians unable to secure seats from Calabar.
To address this, Aklah explained that the state government has acquired two additional aircraft, increasing the total fleet of state-owned aircraft to four, just to serve the state better. Currently, two of these aircraft are being operated by Aero Contractors.
He also spoke on the plans for the state to float an airline and other issues.
With the recent addition of two aircraft, bringing Cross River’s fleet to four, what are the state’s plans for the new planes, considering Aero Contractors is already managing the first two?
Frankly speaking, this is a decision that we are yet to state because the governor has not decided on the choice of who will manage them. What is sure is that with the arrival of both aircraft, once we put them into operation, we should be able to take care of the traffic between Calabar and Abuja and Calabar and Lagos.
ßThe first two that we had are Boeing but the current ones are CRJ and those ones are smaller and are one of the best in the market. Those ones will be dedicated to the Calabar-Lagos and Calabar–Abuja routes and to ensuring that we have flights going out of the state on a daily basis so that our people will no longer be stranded. But for the management of the aircraft, I cannot be very definite. We have branded them, but with time all the decisions will be made.
Have the first two aircraft been able to generate sufficient profit to warrant getting more planes?
I think in terms of return on investment on the first two, it has not been bad. We have an accountant who is working with the Ministry of Aviation and is interfacing with Aero Contractors, and I am sure that they are keeping to the terms and conditions of the contract we have with them. I would say that the purchase of the planes has been a good business decision.
Are there any plans for the state to float an airline any time soon?
I think so because that should be the ultimate desire. We should be able to have an airline owned by Cross River State that is registered with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and we are working towards getting a carrier that meets local and international standards. It is our desire to own our own airline and we are working towards achieving it instead of splitting our aircraft between existing operators.
Has there been any improvement in passenger traffic to and from Calabar?
We are undervaluing and underestimating the traffic from Calabar. A lot of our people leave from Calabar through the water to get to Uyo to board a flight from there because the airlines currently operating in Calabar do not fly every day. Many of the aircraft that fly out of Uyo are filled with Cross Riverians who live in Calabar but because they couldn’t get a flight directly from Calabar, they have to go to Uyo through the water and then take a flight from there.
A friend who is supposed to be inaugurated as one of the governing council members of CRUTECH called me recently and said that Aero Contractors was the only airline that was available and it was fully booked, so he couldn’t get a ticket. I personally tried to make contact with Aero to see if I could get any ticket for him and I was told that the flight was fully booked two days prior and they are the only ones flying to Calabar the next day. Even at low peak periods, people do not even find seats to come to Calabar, so we are grossly underserved.
How far has work gone in Obudu airport?
The airport is 82 percent completed at the moment. The governor came for a working visit to the airport one month ago and everyone who came with him marveled at the speed that the project is taking. When he came, he called for a meeting with the contractors to insist that we must get timelines for the completion of the airport. If we are at 82 percent, we have the remaining part of the one kilometer runway and the last part of the asphalt would soon be done. But unfortunately, during the period the governor was on leave, the contractors dragged us back and we were not able to meet with them.
But we were eventually able to meet recently and have agreed that they will send the costing of what was left to be completed. Don’t forget that apart from the contractors, we have an engineering firm that supervises the contractor. We want to present the cost of what it would take to complete it to the governor with 100 percent assurance from the contractor that if we put this amount of funds, it would be completed so that we can get the regulatory agency to come and see what we have done. The governor also wanted to know if the job would be too much for them to handle; we could sublet some aspects to other contractors because his desire is to see the job completed.
Would the airport focus more on cargo movement or passenger or both?
It would be a 50/50 balance. The terminal building for the passengers is ready and we have started building the part for cargo. We would be ready for both of them.