By Chinelo Obogo
The Federal Government has begun the process of removing Nigeria from the high risk status that has made aircraft dry lease impossible for domestic airline operators.
The Chief Operating Officer of United Nigeria Airlines, Osita Okonkwo, who made the disclosure at a media interaction in Lagos on Monday, said the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has already met with Aircraft Leasing Group (ALG) comprising the two largest aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing among others, to delist Nigeria from the high risk category which has made it difficult for domestic airlines to obtain aircraft on dry lease.
He explained that dry lease arrangement is very cost-effective for airlines as they provide the crew to operate a leased asset but because of the action of some domestic airline operators in the past who keep aircraft leased to them without fulfilling the lease deal, lessors blacklisted Nigeria, blocking domestic operators from assessing dry lease agreements, categorizing the country as high risk in getting their equipment back when needed.
“The Minister is on top of it. It would help that Nigeria is removed from country risk on aircraft dry lease. The country risk rating has hampered our operations and we are exposed to wet-lease which is very expensive. Our appeal is that we don’t miss out on opportunities. Nigeria is the largest market in Africa. The potential is there. The market is large,” he said.
Speaking on success of the Spring Alliance launched over a year ago, which was meant to tackle the issue of flight delays and cancellations and improve operations, Okonkwo said that the Alliance is yet to have a formal structure but explained that the carrier is on the verge of formalising its interline agreement with some domestic operators. He said at the moment, it has informal arrangements with Dana Air, NG Eagle, Air Peace and Aero Contractors to airlift their passengers whenever any of the airlines is incapable of doing any of its schedules.
Airline interline agreement allows passengers to book through itineraries on multiple airlines with less hassle than booking each one separately. Usually, if two airlines have an interline agreement in place, they will handle the check in and baggage for each other’s passengers. The objective of the alliance is curb flight delays among the six partners, give one another technical support and also ensure that passengers are airlifted by any of the members, no matter which airline’s ticket the passengers have.
“We do not yet have a formal structure on the alliance but we have informal arrangements with some operators to carry passengers when the need arises. Last week, we did close to 300 passengers in a day with the interline arrangement. We are working to develop the alliance,” he said.