Follow Us on Google
…As Aero gets NCAA nod to resume flight operations
By Louis Ibah
Nigerian air travellers currently battling fewer options of airlines to fly can now heave a sigh of relief as Aero Contractors Airlines has been given the nod by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to resume scheduled flight operations on domestic routes.
“I can confirm that they (Aero Contractors) wrote to us that they had sorted out the issues and closed all gaps and that they were ready to resume their scheduled flights in the country,” a top official of NCAA told Daily Sun.
“But we have to do some certifications and recertifications on the airline because some of the aircraft had been on ground for some time and some were sent for maintenances and the same for the pilots.
“We are still on that certification processes. Once we are done, the airline certainly can resume flying, and I can assure that that can happen anytime before the Christmas and New Year,” said the official who preferred to remain anonymous.
The airline, it was learnt, would commence flights on three of its most lucrative routes – Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The return of the airline comes amid an escalating cost of air fares in the country as checks by Daily Sun reveal that most airline operators have jacked up prices by about 100 per cent to reflect the high cost of aviation fuel (Jet A1) to power aircraft in their fleet.
In fact, the average airfare on most domestic routes had increased from N15,000 to N30,000. For instance, about a month ago, travellers could still find lower economy class air tickets (ranging from N15,000 to N20,000) with online payment on the Lagos-Abuja, Lagos-Port Harcourt, Lagos-Owerri and Lagos-Uyo routes. But in the last two weeks, all such prices for such online bookings have all escalated to between N30,000 and N45,000.
Spokesman for Arik Air, Mr. Adebanji Ola, who explained the impact of the fuel scarcity on the airline said, “Arik Air requires a daily supply of approximately 500,000 litres for its operations but it has been getting between 180,000 and 200,000 over the past 10 days, which has severely impacted the scheduled flight operations.
“The airline may be forced to pass on to its customers the abrupt and random fuel price increases by some marketers,” Ola hinted.
The exit of Aero Contractors Airline since September 1, 2016 had created a vacuum in the number of aircraft option plying Nigeria’s domestic routes, thus allowing some airlines to enjoy a monopoly on some routes, with associated increases in air tickets.
Analysts, however, believe that even with the high cost of aviation fuel, the return of Aero Contractors to the Nigerian sky will create a healthy competition among existing airlines, which could lead to a reduction in the current rate of air fares paid in the country.
But the resumption of flight by Aero will also put smiles on the faces of hundreds of its workers who have been out of job in the last three months following its indefinite closure.
