African Aviation Experts Canvass Two Big Airlines for Nigeria

 

 

Arik Air plane

For its large population and increasing passenger traffic, aviation experts who attended the recent African Aviation Summit 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, have proposed that Nigeria should establish two strong carriers that could compete with international airlines if the country must benefit from its growing number of air travellers.

Over four million Nigerian travel overseas annually and projections indicate that in few years this number may increase to eight million. However, over 94 per cent of these travellers are airlifted by international carriers that do not contribute in any way to the development of aviation in Nigeria.

Partner, Ernst and Young, Ethiopia, Mr. Zemedeneh Negatu said Nigeria must have to establish at least one strong national flag carrier and enforce the merger of some of the existing ones in order to have two strong airlines with high capacity to meet the growing number of air travellers and to become competitive in the international air transport market.

Negatu recalled that the defunct Virgin Nigeria, which the federal government had an input in was established to become a very strong Nigeria carrier but the objective was not realised because the structuring of the airline was wrong.
He said that Nigeria should learn a lesson from that and now a new administration was set to take over government, it would be reasonable for the country to have two or three multibillion dollar airlines.

“We don’t expect the Nigerian government to run those airlines, but Nigeria deserves to have at least one national flag carrier, then support should be given to Arik and Aero to become very large carriers to support Africa’s biggest economy.

“Somebody with core competence should be engaged to manage the airline. Nigeria should follow the style of the Asian tigers, but government must play stronger roles by deploying funds for the development of the industry and also give support to the establishment of the airlines”, Negatu said.

But the Legal Advisor, African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), Sam Gaya said that Nigeria could only succeed in establishing a successful carrier if government is transparent and has zero-tolerance to corruption and impunity, noting that these elements brought about the collapse of the defunct Nigeria Airlines Limited (NAL) and to some extent Virgin Nigeria Airways.

“There must be openness, there must be transparency, it must follow the Ethiopian model whereby government official that needs the service of the airline will pay for it in advance. There should be no interferences,” Gaya said.

The CEO of African Aviation Services Limited and former Secretary-General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Nick Fadugba, said Nigerian needs a minimum of two major carriers, adding that Nigerian airlines must cultivate the habit of paying their bills on time, adding that they should pay for the services rendered by the aviation agencies, pay the lessors that leased them aircraft and others.

Culled from Thisday