By Chinelo Obogo [email protected] 07064781119
The quarterly meeting of Aviation Round Table (ART), a think-tank pressure group, brought together industry players to chart the way forward for the industry as President Bola Tinubu’s administration takes shape.
All stakeholder who spoke at the event which had the theme; “Aviation Reset: Agenda for the New Dispensation” agreed that the entire industry is in dire need of an overhaul and reforms but many differed on what shape it would take.
From proposals for a merger of domestic airlines, to the need for new aviation policies and the reason for flight delays and cancellation, stakeholders brainstormed on the way forward for the industry. The professionals emphasised that unlike in the other climes where their governments support the operations of domestic airlines, the reverse was the case in Nigeria as multiple charges and levies continued to pull the airlines down.
The Chief Executive Officer of King Airlines, Senator. Musa Adede, said that it is necessary for the industry to embark on reset exercise at this time as a new administration takes the centre stage in the country. He explained that it was important for the industry to re-exam itself through a thorough cleaning, stressing that the policies of the past years retrogressed the industry. He then accused former Ministers of Aviation, Stella Oduah and Hadi Sirika, of killing the industry through their actions and inactions, stressing that the sector needed newer ideas to compete.
For the sector to compete with others, Adede opined that the airline sub-sector requires about N50 billion support from the government and also condemned the planned reestablishment of a national carrier for Nigeria by the past administration, saying that the idea was no longer in vogue. “As it is, there is no unity among the airline operators either scheduled, chartered or helicopters. They are all working in isolation. The aviation ministry too is not helping the industry to grow. Our airports are very dirty. The former ministers in the sector, especially Oduah and Sirika, who claimed to be a captain, have killed the sector. Our ministers have sold out in drafting the agreements with foreign airlines and governments,” he said.
He also pointed out that the policy of renewing Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC) for airlines every three years by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was archaic, stressing that in developed countries, the certificates are held for live. “NCAA is still archaic. They are not computer literate and not compliant. They ask you for volumes of documents that they will never read,” he said.
Flight cancellations, delays
Reacting to the recent report released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) showing the percentage of flight delays and cancellations among domestic and foreign operators for the first quarter of 2023, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema chided the regulatory body for not listing the causes of the delay which he noted is mostly caused by other factors VIP movement, weather, lack of adequate infrastructure and issues related to fueling. He said the agency was wrong not to have included the causes of the delays and cancellations, saying, “Let us go and bring the best of airlines in the world without support from the government, they will not last 72 hours. When we talk about delays, it is not the duty of airlines to chase birds around the airport. This year, we have had 18 bird strikes. Once a delay happens, it would be very difficult to have prompt flight services for that day. There was a day we had two bird strikes and this costs us $3 million to fix an engine of the aircraft. Local production of jet fuel is one of the solutions to flight delays.”
But the former Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Rabiu Yadudu, contradicted Onyema, saying that passenger’ satisfaction must be given priority and that it was of no use for airlines and relevant aviation agencies pass the buck of their inefficiencies to the travelers, hinting that many of the travelers are not concerned about the technicalities that cause incessant delays but to take them to their destinations as at when due.
Weak airlines
Outgoing President of ART, Dr. Gabriel Olowo expressed concern over the health of domestic airlines, country’s airlines, describing them as weak, small, and fragmented and suggested that they all merge and form two formidable airlines instead of 11 weak operators. He said NCAA’s report on flight delays and cancellation is a reflection of inadequate fleet size, poor maintenance, and or inefficient workforce outside the questions of weather, technical, and others.
Olowo lamented the lack of support from the government for the private players and pointed out that the government cannot exonerate itself from the deaths of past carriers. He said the political authority was focused more on infrastructure that is beyond economic repair to the detriment of airlines, also bemoaned the impact of the exchange rate amidst the issue of remittances by foreign airlines. He insisted that the government could not exonerate itself from the deaths of the past carriers.
“There, will be a herculean task without collaboration, cooperation, and or merger. The merger was successful in banking and should be successful in aviation, dwelling on fleet size rather than share capital. The On time Performance (OTP) of domestic airlines is woeful and deplorable with an average of 61 per cent delay except Ibom Air which is 30 per cent, which is still very far below the acceptable world average.
“Sustaining flights in a slot regime such as in London, New York, and Johannesburg among others with such deplorable on-time performance (OTP) will be practically impossible. According to flight data on Q1 2022 by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a total of 23,599 flights were operated on domestic routes in the first three months of 2022. Out of the figure, 14,130 flights were cancelled in Q1 2022 on domestic routes, representing 59.87 percent of such flights.
“The Nigeria political authority seems to be paying a lot of attention to renovating airport infrastructure that is beyond economic repair like MMA and adding nonfunctional ones like the Chinese terminal of MMA 1 (though desirable), but to the detriment of airlines who use the infrastructure.
“Foreign airlines home remittance remains a huge challenge, and will only get worse with the floating dollar exchange rate if not quickly cleared. Airfares will continually soar, reaching all time high levels. Nigerian airlines remain small and highly fragmented,” he said.
BASA
Onyema, who was the guest speaker, advocated for sweeping aviation reforms starting from the review the Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) Nigeria has with other countries, which he said are mostly skewed against domestic airlines. He said that the current government policies is aiding the demise of domestic operators, and disclosed that Air Peace lost some of its aircraft to 18 bird strike incidents in 2023 alone with two aircraft lost within hours at the Benin Airport.
Onyema who is the Vice President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) expressed fear that there may be more bird strikes before the end of the year and that apart from the aircraft being grounded with resources spent, delays by the Nigerian Customs Service in clearing aviation parts were also an issue.
“Whenever we are criticising the domestic airlines for delays or cancellations, we should try to find out the causes of these delays and cancellations. There were two bird strike incidents at Benin Airport alone in one day. Also, just recently, it cost us about $3.2 million to bring a part of one of the engines of our E195-E2 aircraft, which was attacked by birds. The aircraft had to be on the ground for another week because the manufacturers never expected such an incident,” he said.
MRO
Onyema also said that the lack of a functional Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria is costing the airlines millions of dollars, as most operators are forced to take their aircraft to countries like Ethiopia, Morocco, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, South Africa for C-checks and other repairs.
He said having a functional MRO would have created more employment opportunities for Nigerians, revenue generation, and training of technical personnel for the main-tenance of aircraft.