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By Chinelo Obogo
President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye, has said that foreign airlines are presently not contending with domestic operators over multiple destinations as local operators have been unable to connect all the states to major airports.
Speaking at the inaugural launch of flight operations by Qatar Airways in Kano, Akporiaye said that rather than complain about the Federal Government’s decision to assign multiple destinations to foreign airlines, domestic operators should work with the international airlines to know their timing, so that they can use that same timing to plan out movements from other states to the major airports.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) recently berated the Federal Government for assigning multiple destinations to foreign airlines, saying that such an action is detrimental to the local airlines that are still contending with the difficult business environment.
But Akporiaye dismissed such concerns, saying that the assigning of multiple destinations to foreign airlines does not impede the operations of domestic operators as most of them are yet to cover and connect many domestic routes to the regional airports.
“The plan of the Federal Government is to have airports in 36 states, so an airline departing from three airports is in order because if you look at the way the international airlines are doing their departure points, it is on regional basis. There is still much that the local airlines need to do to bring people to and fro the neigbouring airports. For instance, the one in Kano is going to serve the entire northern region and they have 10 to 11 states, so who is going to bring passengers from those states to Kano? It is the local airlines. The local airlines have not even been able to connect all the states to the base region and that is still an issue, so the foreign airlines are not contending with local airlines at all if you ask me. Lagos serves the entire South West states and when those who want to travel leave those states and come to Lagos to board, who will carry them from all those points to Lagos? It is the same thing for Port Harcourt and Abuja.
“My advice to the local airlines is that they should be able to connect Nigerians from the neighbouring states down to the regional base of the foreign airlines. Like in Kano, the airlines should think of how to bring people from Bauchi, Maiduguri, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe etc. The local airlines need to go back to the drawing board and work with the international airlines to know their timing so that they can use that same timing to plan out movements from other states to Kano. It’s a win-win for everybody,” she said.
On the route expansion of Qatar Airways, she said; “The country manager of Qatar said it is committed to expanding the West African region, they are big in other regions but not so in West Africa, hence the reason why they are opening up in rapid procession. They want to open up West Africa to Doha and the rest of the world. Competition in business is allowed, we are not supposed to stop it, but to embrace it because it is good for everybody. When there is competition between the foreign airlines operating in Kano, it would bring about a reduction in fare because at the end of the day, it would favour the travelers.
“Qatar has huge potential in the Nigerian market as the routes these airlines fly is big for us because we are a very religious country and we don’t miss pilgrimages. My members in Kano are so excited by the arrival of Qatar and they can’t wait for Hajj to commence because they suffered a lot in the hands of other foreign airlines. But now that there is competition, those airlines will sit up.
“Qatar has also promised that they are working with their government to relax some of their immigration rules because their eyes are beginning to open to the huge oppourtunities in the country, so they need to be more accommodating. They told the Emir of Kano when they went to pay him a courtesy visit about some of the measures that they have put in place to open up to the rest of the world,” she said.
