FG’s aircraft purchase fails to address industry concerns written by Sade Williams (Businessday)

The Federal Government’s plan to buy 30 aircraft for domestic airlines, as intervention to shield the sector from further decline or failure, has again come under criticism.

Some airline operators and industry experts say the project cannot work because the necessary infrastructure and manpower to support it are not in place.

Some other industry watchers also doubt government’s sincerity in making the proposal.

Analysts who spoke to BusinessDay, pointed out that manpower and maintenance hangars to support the operations of the aircraft are currently in short supply, or lacking altogether, adding that the sector’s woes may be compounded when that number of aircraft ( 30 ) are delivered without maintenance facilities or operational fleets.

This, they said, would lead the airlines to incur huge bills in foreign exchange, to service their aircraft abroad, while  the inability to do so, could cause the ventures to fail.

The experts advised that government should rather invest in training of personnel and  building of maintenance hangars, where operators could carry out all checks (A-D) on aircraft, instead of taking them abroad.

For instance, to carry out a ‘C-Check’ on a Boeing 737 aircraft abroad, analysts said, costs between $500,000 and $1.5m, depending on the level of C-Check.

John Ojikutu, a retired airport commandant said:  “If government must float a national carrier, in addition to deploying 30 aircraft to the industry, the airlines would need at least 100 captains and co-pilots.

“Where would the new airlines get these, when the present ratio of Nigerian pilots to foreign pilots flying for most domestic airlines is 1:4?

“Where would the aircraft engineers and technicians come from, and where will the airlines use as hangars for base maintenance?”

Ojikutu explained that it would take the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, the neglected government-owned aviation school, at least three years to produce a licensed pilot and another three or four years, to get him mature enough to fly medium-sized passenger aircraft, only as a co-pilot.

Ojikutu said statistics showed that Nigeria had been relegated in the marketplace of airline pilots and engineers, by government’s poor attitude to training.

“This explains why most airlines have a greater number of foreign pilots. For instance, Dana

Airlines, at the public hearing, gave a figure of 16 pilots (11 foreigners and 5 Nigerians), 14 Co-pilots (13 foreigners and 1 Nigerian). The story is not different from other airlines”.

Dele Ore,a former director in the defunct Nigeria Airways, also said that the minimum and maximum age limits of 60 years and 65 years, set for flight crew, by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) was being strictly implemented.

He added however, that the training aspect was not being implemented, as the ageing pilots and engineers and those deficient in current technologies or methods, were not being planned for.

Ore said that for instance, many Nigerian engineers had training requirements for aircraft like the Boeing 727-200 and 737 which are already being phased out, due to high cost of maintenance, but government has no plans for their training on the newer aircraft  which are now dominating the fleet of Nigerian carriers.

“The result of lack of training is that you hear of flight cancellations all the time. Of course, they will not give you the reason, they will say due to operational reasons, but if they cannot raise and train the crew, the airplanes can’t fly themselves.

“Remotely, there is a shortage of crew, and the problem is going to be more acute as the years progress, because more and more crew would be approaching the age of retirement, and if replacements are not readily available, it means that the shortage would get progressively worse, as the years roll by”.

Also speaking, Amos Akpan, managing director of Capital Airlines, said government needs to consider so many variations such as ‘insurance premium, cost of maintenance and cost of manpower training’ before deploying the aircraft, in order to avoid bigger problems in the  industry.

“The concept that government supplying new aircraft (30) to Nigerian airlines will force the airfares down is faulty.

“The effect of newer aircraft on airlines operating cost, manifests in savings, through lesser fuel burn (fuel efficiency); and less frequent repairs (low cost of maintenance in terms of frequency of repairs). But the money an airline saves from newer aircraft (one to five years) in fuel efficiency and less frequent repairs, is spent on cost of purchase or lease of newer aircraft, cost of manpower training and insurance.

“One to five-year old aircraft are 40 percent costlier to purchase or lease, than  six to ten-year old aircraft. Certified personnel rated on that type of aircraft need to be trained in class and on-line in the field, and the higher the value of the aircraft, the higher the insurance premium.

“Since the aircraft will not be given free to domestic airlines, the lease rate will be high. Our reason for newer aircraft must be clear, so that we don’t lose focus on priorities like maintenance culture”, he said.

Joe Obi, special adviser on media, to the minister of Aviation, had confirmed that government was getting the aircraft directly from the manufacturer’s, with funds from the Aviation Intervention Fund, in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Industry (BoI).

Obi said one of the modalities to accessing the aircraft, would be bank guarantee, adding that any airline that has no guarantee would not benefit from it.

“Government is not happy with the way the first intervention fund was disbursed and used ,hence there is need to be more prudent and save the industry”, he had said.

Second-hand  Boeing 737s such as the B737-200 etc  can cost as little as $3 million. The newer B737s can cost from $50 million to $80 million.

Already, government is in talks with Boeing, Bombardier and other aircraft manufacturers, to shop for aircraft for the airlines.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/76-hot-topic/50879-fgs-aircraft-purchase-fails-to-address-industry-concerns

Arik introduces new payment option (vanguard)

Arik Air has introduced a new payment option that allows customers to book a ticket online at its website

and pay later using a number of different payment platforms.

The airline said weekend that the new Book-on-Hold service, available only to passengers in Nigeria, was

part of a raft of changes being rolled out to enhance its online offering and customer experience.

Arik Air’s Managing Director/Executive Vice President, Mr. Chris Ndulue, described the new payment

option as a flexible strategy to provide more convenient services to passengers.

He said:  “We believe this Book-on-Hold option offers greater flexibility and control, especially for guests

on the move. This is part of Arik Air’s strategy of providing more convenient services to our esteem guests.”

According to him, the special booking process has been developed for customers buying tickets in the

Nigerian market for flights originating in the country.

“It allows flight tickets to be booked on the website and held in the system, whilst giving travellers the

convenience and flexibility of paying for the ticket later,” he said.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/arik-introduces-new-payment-option/

MedView Airline makes emergency landing after take-off written by DANIEL ETEGHE(Vanguard)

ONE  of the newest entries to the domestic airline operation in Nigeria, MedView Airlines Sunday, made an air return on one of its flights from Lagos to Abuja with 74 passengers onboard around 2:40pm at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two, MMA2, Lagos.
Vanguard gathered that the pilot had to make an air return back to base at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos fifteen minutes after take-off.
Investigation revealed that the air return was taken by the pilot as the best precautionary measure to  averting any air disaster .
At the time of this report, Vanguard could not ascertain the reason behind the air return.
Unconfirmed report claimed there was a massive bang in one of the two engines of the aircraft mid air.
When contacted, Head of Flight Operations, MedView Airlines, Captain Henry Olawole Oke, affirmed that there was an incident on one of the airline’s aircraft en-route Lagos-Abuja, stressing that the pilot did not feel comfortable with the noise that he was hearing onboard the aircraft shortly after take-off, hence he had to make an air return.
According to Mr. Oke”I cannot specifically tell you what happened because I was not on the flight but I learnt that the captain was not comfortable with the noise that he was hearing from the aircraft, so he had to make an air return”
When asked if the noise or bang emanated from one of the two engines, Captain Oke said, ‘’there are several noises that can emanate from an aircraft and for now, we are not sure yet. You know, it could be from pressuration, it could be from the engines, it could be from the air condition, the hydrolic but we can’t say this was where the noise was coming from”
He added that there was no time the aircraft was in danger, saying the pilot flew the aircraft back safely and that they had not even gone up to Ibadan before the incident occurred and they had to come back to base.
Meanwhile, the General Manager, Med-View Airline, Mr. David Babatunde who also confirmed the incident pointed out that air return was normal in global aviation industry adding that the pilot took the best precautionary safety measures by returning to base.
Babatunde stated that the engineers were still looking at the cause of the incident and would submit their findings to the management and the regulatory authority (NCAA).
“On take-off, about 15 minutes in-flight, we had a bang on one of the two engines, an upsurge. So, the captain took a safety precautionary measure and decided to shut down the engine and return to base. The aircraft was heading to Abuja with 74 passengers.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/medview-airline-makes-emergency-landing-after-take-off/

Gombe, Arik Air Collaborate For Daily Flights (Leadership)

Gombe State Government and Arik Air Ltd. will partner to ensure daily flights from Abuja to Gombe, the
Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure, Alhaji Hadi Shehu, has said.
Shehu disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Friday.
He said that Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo had granted the approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which would boost air traffic in the state through the Gombe Airport.

``The ministries of finance; commerce and industries; and justice are already reviewing a lot of proposals we have received from the directives of the governor to see whether we can actualise some of the MoUs we want to enter with people who want to provide ground handling services.
``We are already looking at the possibility of entering into an arrangement; we just got the approval of his Excellency.

``We are going into an arrangement with Arik Air, the only airline now operating in Gombe, to see that we sustain their operations on daily basis.
``They can bring their aircraft, the last flight from Abuja and first flight in the morning.
``An average Gombe resident can go to Abuja and do his business and come back the same day.

On the technical staff at the airport, the commissioner said that there were no adequately trained personnel but that the ministry was thinking of entering into some kind of concessionary arrangement.
According to him, the arrangement is aimed at ensuring that there are available flights in the state.
``As it is now, we are more or less operating like a social service, we need to link with Abuja or other areas in the country and then we need to come back to Gombe.’’
On the state of facilities at the airport, Shehu said that there was a provision in the 2013 budget to upgrade the facilities.

``What we have is a landing stream, you have a place where you can receive visitors, but to say that we have real terminal which depicts an airport, we are yet to go there.
``So what we want to do now is to upgrade the present so-called international terminal to really have an international outfit,” he said.

The commissioner said that the government was thinking of establishing either a board or an agency to coordinate the activities of the airport to boost revenue generation.
He said that the vision of the ministry was to develop the airport into a regional airport where states in the North-East could use it.
``The thinking is based on the fact that Gombe state is a hub of economic activities in the region, hence the need to boost its air travel system.

http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/46114/2013/01/26/gombe_arik_air_collaborate_daily_flights.html

Private jet flights, fastest growing in aviation – FAAN written by Oyetunji Abioye (The Punch)

The Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. George Uriesi, has said private jet flights are the fastest growing in the aviation industry.

Uriesi, who spoke at the opening of the General Aviation Terminal (Private and chartered aircraft terminal) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, on Monday, said the agency had concluded plans to build five additional private jet terminals across the country.

This, he said, would be sited in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Yola.

The managing director, in a speech presented at the opening, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, said the new GAT in Abuja would help the agency to process scheduled (private and chartered jet travellers) and non-scheduled passengers (commercial aircraft travellers) at separate terminals.

He said, “Private jet flights experienced the largest growth in the two years. All over the world, they give private jet operators their own terminals because they are commercially important people. These are people who want to make a better use of their time by going on private jets instead of experiencing delays associated with boarding the regular commercial flight.

“The Abuja GAT is part of the vision to create a one-stop shop for our private jet customers. They will be transported by Limo from the terminal to the foot of the aircraft. We will charge them moderate fees.”

Uriesi said the Abuja GAT marked the commencement of general aviation services at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport since its inception in the early 1980s, even though it is the second busiest airport in the country, after the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

According to him, the Abuja airport has had to contend with decaying infrastructure and obsolete facilities that belie its position as the second busiest in the country, apart from being situated in the nation’s capital city.

He said, “What was then the airport’s domestic terminal operated both scheduled and non-scheduled flights using the same tarmac and terminal facilities. The resultant congestion did not augur well for efficient service, hence the need to separate the services into two terminals. Domestic flight operations were transferred to a wing of the international while the old domestic terminal was to be remodelled to serve as the General Aviation Terminal, for more efficient service delivery.”

The FAAN MD explained that the new arrangement was made possible by the advent of airport remodelling project initiated by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said, “Work on the remodelling of this new General Aviation Terminal started in October, 2010 and was completed early this month. The project entailed the expansion of the old domestic terminal and its conversion to a general aviation terminal for non-scheduled flights. The new terminal has a full complement of modern terminal facilities including check-in counters, shops, offices, duty rooms, conference centre, dining room, kitchen, security screening machines and lounges, including a separate lounge for pilots.”

He said, “By today’s opening, scheduled and non-scheduled flights at the Abuja Airport will take place at two different terminals, creating opportunities for huge improvement in service delivery by FAAN and other service providers in the aviation industry.

“It is our hope that the completion of the first and second phases of the airport remodelling project will transform Nigerian airports into a haven for viable private investments. We hereby invite all well meaning investors to join hands with government to hasten the fulfilment of this dream.”

http://www.punchng.com/business/transport/private-jet-flights-fastest-growing-in-aviation-faan/

Price War among Domestic Airlines May Impair Safety wriitten by Chinedu Eze(Thisday)

Since the resumption of flights by Dana Air and the earlier joining of scheduled passenger service by Med View Airlines, air fares have crashed on the local routes.

Obviously this should be a delight to passengers but industry experts point to the safety implications of introducing low fares that cannot even offset operational costs.

This may lead to the demise of the airlines over time. But the immediate consequence is that the airlines will begin to cut corners on maintenance as there will be no available fund to pay for major aircraft maintenance.
Another factor is that it will affect replacement of aircraft parts as airlines would be tempted to recycle aircraft parts and the consequence is another cycle of air crashes and deaths that outlines the history of air transport in Nigeria.

THISDAY learnt that the lowest fares in the domestic transport market is the one charged by Dana Air, which is N9,000; Med View low fare is N14,000, while Aero is forced to bring down its fare to N16,000 and Arik is considering crashing its own fares as it is now losing passengers to the other airlines.

Industry expert and seasoned pilot admitted that hitherto, the domestic carriers overpriced themselves, but present reality indicate that such high prices must have to come down, “but not to the ridiculous level that you cannot offset your operational cost.”

The pilot recommended that ideal fare for one hour flight should be N20, 00 so that the airlines would be able to offset operational cost and have funds to effectively maintain their aircraft and pay their workers.
But this amount is still considered high by the passengers who believe that well-organised domestic market should have fares as low as N15, 000, if government is able to bring down the cost of aviation fuel and also waive some of the charges levelled on domestic operation.

The pilot blamed the low pricing to lack of economic oversight and said that if the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is monitoring the pricing of the airlines, it would ensure that fares were not brought as low as it would affect the operations of the airlines and threaten safety standards.

NCAA told THISDAY on Wednesday that it would investigate the prices and to know whether to stop the airlines from charging such fares or not.

The regulatory body also noted that it approved the promo fares that some airlines have adopted, noting that the online low fares are offset by the high fares sold at the counter; but presently it is only Aero that is on that promo.

The pilot, who considered N20, 000 as safe fares said that fares are calculated by six per nautical mile, which is a term also used by international airlines and this is multiplied with the number of seats in an aircraft and the price of one seat is determined.

“Then you add navigational charges, passenger service charge, five per cent ticket sales charge and cost of fuel. When you add all these you know that N20, 000 should be a fair fare for both the airlines and the passengers because the airline has to exist first and operate safely for it to airlift passengers. Passengers anywhere in the world will always go for low fares, however,” the pilot said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/price-war-among-domestic-airlines-may-impair-safety/136726/

Affected families lobby passengers to boycott Dana Air over safety written by RITA OBODOECHINA(Vanguard)

Forty families of  dead victims in the Dana plane that  crashed on June 3rd, 2012 have called for a boycott of the airline by air travellers, following irregularities recorded in the compensation of the victims’ families.
Speaking through M.O. Awoyemi & Co. the law firm representing their  interests, the  families said, “If you love your life, boycott Dana Airline. You owe it to yourself and your family. We want to call on all well meaning Nigerians to condemn the resumption of Dana Airlines and we  call on the House of Representatives to summon the Aviation Minister, Mrs. stella Oduah on this issue and ensure that Dana Airline operating license is withdrawn in line with the resolution of the House of Representatives.”

Mr. Bunmi Awoyemi, Managing Partner of the law firm  fingered Prestige Assurance Plc and its re-insurer of 70 per cent of the risk, Pritchard Insurance Limited/Lloyd’s of London in the irregularities associated with the compensation, blaming them for instructing their solicitors to pay only $30,000 per family, irrespective of whether the families lost more than one person in the crash.
According to him, only 13 of the 40 victims have been paid $30,000 per victim, while only 80 victims’ family members have been paid any form of compensation.

“Many of the 80 include families which lost multiple members of their families to the crash. For such families most of them were paid $30,000 per family instead of the mandatory $30,000 per victim in order to discourage them from suing in the United States.
“They deliberately want to postpone the remainder to be included with the balance of $70,000 they are offering in order to make victims family members sign off their rights to a law suit. They are doing this despite the fact that the Civil Aviation Act makes the payment of $30,000 per victim mandatory and payable within 30 days of any fatal air crash.

“This action is being perpetrated by Prestige Assurance Plc and its Re-insurer of 70 per cent of the risk, Pritchard Insurance Limited/Lloyd’s of London, who have instructed their solicitors to pay only $30,000 per family which explains why the Oyosoro’s and Ibe’s were each paid $30,000 each instead of $60,000 despite the fact that they each lost two family members each. As of today only one more of our remaining clients have been paid.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/affected-families-lobby-passengers-to-boycott-dana-air-over-safety/