Business
Aviation 2020: A Battle For Survival
The Nigerian aviation sector in 2020 could be likened to a town ravaged by war with wanton destruction of lives, infrastructure and economy, that will take some time to rebuild. Although the sector started on a good footing in the beginning of the year, the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 caused the industry an unimaginable setback.
The Coronavirus pandemic, otherwise known as COVID-19, came like a flood, which suddenly broke down all facets of operations in an already flourishing sector, leaving negative imprints that stakeholders are still battling to tackle.
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Nigerian aviation industry was in steady throttle, ranging from the certification of Abuja and Lagos airports, and the move to also certify the Port Harcourt International Airport and others.
Also, in the later part of 2018, the international terminal of the Port Harcourt Airport was commissioned, and the reconstruction work on the runway of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu was awar-ded in August, 2019, all geared towards full operations in 2020.
Generally, the aviation sector in the country was full of activities, with efforts being made to upgrade infrastructure in most of the major airports in the country. From January to the middle of March, airports became a beehive of activities, while travelling by air became the delight of many Nigerians, especially when compared with road transportation that has almost become a nightmare due to deplorable roads and general insecurity.
But that was how far the aviation sector could go in 2020. The once bubling sector suddenly began to witness a terrible downturn in operations as soon as the COVID-19 started to rear its ugly head. The total closure of all the nation’s airports for a period of about six months by the Federal Government in an effort to check the spread of the pandemic was the climax of the misfortune in the aviation industry.
Although all the nation’s major airports are now open to operations, there is still a lull in the activities of airlines.
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, in the build up to the reopening of the nation’s airports, in line with the agency’s core values of safety, security and comfort of passengers, held a Skype meeting with Munich Airport International to share experience and compare notes on the effects of the COVID-19 lock-down on the airports.
The aim was to assess the readiness of FAAN to gradually begin operations, following the Federal Government’s directive for reopening of the four regional airports.
The FAAN boss said, “While FAAN is responding to the guidelines set by the NCAA for gradual airport reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic period, it is important to also compare notes with other airports in the world to make sure that we are on the right track, and join the global industry in building back travel confidence.
“Munich Airport has successfully reopened it’s airport and has recommended domestic and international flights, so it is worth sharing their experience with them”, Yadudu said.
Though there are guidelines issued by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and Airports Council International (ACI), for the purpose of reopening, the guidelines would become more successful if they are adopted based on the peculiarities of the airport environment.
At the Port Harcourt International Airport, for instance, the reopening for flight operations was greeted with numerous challenges, as many restrictions and procedures were introduced, thus raising a lot of dust and questions among stakeholders and airport users.
The negative effects of COVID-19 on airline operations brought about the issue of difficulty in the payment of staff salaries by the airlines. The maintenance of aircrafts became a major challenge with threats of sack of workers still in contention.
FAAN is not exempted. The Authority is battling with the payment of its staff salaries, which was quite unusual in the history of the agency. This has even led to a pocket of protests by its workers.
In one of the interviews granted to The Tide by the FAAN’s Head of Public Affairs at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Mr Kunle Akinbode, he admitted that lack of funds made individuals, including staff of FAAN, to contribute money for the procurement of items required to meet the COVID-19 standard protocol for the reopening of the airport.
The situation also made the airport authority to look inward to reconsider its system of revenue drive, which led to the unusual constitution of a revenue committee to recover monies being owed FAAN.
Akinbode, in the interview, said that there had been airlines that owed FAAN, but did not pay before liquidation, adding that FAAN had decided to wake up.
“FAAN had been relaxing in the collection of debts. These concessionaires look at FAAN with the idea that it is government business, so we have decided to wake up, maybe because of pressure from COVID-19”, he said.
Looking at the turn of events in the aviation industry in the country in the last one year, compared to the previous years, it is obvious that the sector faired roughly in 2020.
The concessionaires and airlines now go through tough times in operations, as cost of maintenance, repairs and overhaul of aircrafts are in hard currency, with the value of naira continuously depreciating against the dollar.
Rather than employing, airlines are contemplating retrenchment of workers; rather than acquiring more fleets of aircrafts, airlines are battling with aircrafts maintenance and how to settle the debts owed FAAN, obviously due to paucity of funds.
This informs why the airlines have jacked up their flight ticket prices by 300 per cent within the last two months in order to cushion the effects of almost six months of non operation.
There is no gainsaying the fact that 2020 is one of the worst years for the Aviation sector, no thanks to the Coron-avirus pandemic. The situation will, therefore, require proactive steps and efforts on the part of both the government and airline operators to reinvigorate the sector. Such steps will include granting bail-out to airlines by the government, and if inevitable, a merger of some airlines to save them from total collapse.
By: Corlins Walter
As part of efforts to curb mishaps in the aviation industry, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Aviation and Aerospace University (AAAU) to deepen training on preventing and reducing accidents in Nigeria’s air transport.
Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of NBIS, Mrs Bimbo Olawumi Oladeji, in a statement, said NSIB granted AAAU access to its facilities to facilitate an efficient exchange of resources and expertise.
According to the statement, the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh, who spoke at the ceremony held at the NSIB Training School, noted that the MoU sets the stage for facility sharing, capacity building, and collaboration between the Bureau and AAAU.
“I am confident that this MoU will enhance the effectiveness of our collaboration and commitment to promoting safer skies and operational excellence in the aviation industry in Nigeria and beyond”, Badeh said.
Registrar of AAAU, represented by the Director of Physical Planning and Works, Engineer Masud Aliyu Yerima, was also quoted in the statement, saying, “The journey of AAAU’s establishment and progress would have faced considerable challenges without NSIB’s generous support”.
He commended Badeh for his exemplary leadership and steadfast dedication in propelling NSIB to greater heights, and affirmed AAAU’s readiness to engage in mutually beneficial endeavours with NSIB.
“This partnership marks a significant milestone in fostering a culture of safety and excellence within Nigeria’s aviation sector, and both NSIB and AAAU are poised to leverage this synergy for the benefit of the industry and the nation at large.
“The African Aviation and Aerospace University, AAAU, is the first Pan-African university dedicated to aviation, aerospace, and environmental science.
“Addressing two critical needs within the continent’s industry, AAAU tackles the research and development gap in Africa’s aviation and aerospace sector while simultaneously cultivating a skilled workforce to propel it forward”, the statement added.
By: Corlins Walter
he commencement of flights operations on the London route by an indegenous Carrier, Air Peace Airline, and the recovery of the local currency have sparked fresh competition on international routes.
Air Peace, Nigeria’s outstanding indigenous airline, may face a prolonged market battle with many foreign airlines with decades of experience in the industry following its entrance on the Nigeria-London route.
Some of the industry’s experts say the airline required support from the government and a strategic approach to stay competitive.
Analysts have also stated that the strategic move has garnered high praise from stakeholders in the aviation sector, considering that Nigerians were paying exorbitant prices to travel from Nigeria to London, but that sustaining this momentum will require more than just offering low prices.
On March 31, 2024, the 11-year-old airline made a bold statement with its inaugural flight, using a Boeing 777 aircraft, offering a capacity of 274 seats and carrying 260 passengers from Lagos to London.
It sold its tickets for N1.2m, a price way lower than the rates offered by most foreign airline operators plying the same route.
Just two weeks after entering the market, Air Peace’s Chief Executive Officer, Allen Onyema, complained on Arise TV that foreign airlines were undercutting prices in an attempt to push Air Peace out of the market.
Onyema said, “We are aware that there are devilish conspiracies. All of a sudden, airlines are pricing below the cost. One airline is advertising $100 and the other $350. If you peel up your entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it is not even enough to buy fuel.
“Why are they doing that? Their government is supporting them because Nigeria has been a cash cow for everybody. The idea is to take Air Peace out, and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over. It would happen, God forbid, if they were able to take Air Peace out”.
It was gathered that an economy ticket for a flight scheduled for April 29, 2024, from Lagos to London costs about N679,375 on Ethiopian Airlines, an operator with 75 years of experience.
Air Peace priced the same ticket at N1,090,750. The difference is that on Air Peace, it will be a 6-hour non-stop flight, while on Ethiopian Airlines, it will take 16 hours with one stopover.
Last Friday, Ethiopian Airlines reduced the price of its London ticket by 0.77 per cent to N1,628,660 from N1,641,249 two weeks ago.
In the same period, Air France’s price dropped to N1,687,824, nearly halving from last month’s N2,482,138.
On March 4, 2024, Lufthansa offered the Lagos-London route for N1,966,165. Qatar Airways provided the same ticket for N2,016,824, and KLM priced it at N2,448,740.
This continuous decline in air ticket prices was also driven by the strengthening of the naira against the US dollar and the payments of airlines’ trapped funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had confirmed that the Federal Government, through the CBN, had cleared all the trapped funds (foreign exchange backlogs) to the tune of about $160m.
Beyond the ongoing price war, the Air Peace Chairman had also lamented the challenges with ground handling and space allocation at the London Gatwick Airport, adding that no airline has faced such obstacles before.
He noted, “On the inaugural flight out of London, 24 hours before departure, the management of Gatwick Airport moved us to another checking area instead of the designated one.
“The area they provided had a malfunctioning carousel, forcing us to manually transport luggage 50 meters away, causing delays”.
Users and business operators at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, have decried the downward trend in flight operations at the airport.
Some of the users and operators told The Tide that flight operations at the airport, rather than go upward, have steadily been irregular, and diminishing steadily.
A regular air passenger of the airport, Simeon Echeonwu, in a chat with The Tide, said many airlines, both domestic and international operators, that usually operate at the Port Harcourt airport, have stopped operations, whereas others that are still operating are no longer very stable as before.
Echeonwu noted that airlines such as Aero Contractors, United Nigeria, and Green Africa airlines, now operate about one flight, twice a week, unlike before that they flew every day on Lagos and Abuja to Port Harcourt.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the FAAN Accredited Car Hires Association, Clifford Wahunoro, lamented that the down turn in Operations has affected the business of car hires.
“If you have noticed, I have not been regular at the airport for some time now, because business is no longer flowing at the airport as before. I will not fold my hands and be sitting down doing nothing, so I have to look for other things, so I come when I think there will be something.
“You can see that between 12noon and 1pm, after that segment of flights, when you have few flights arrival, many people will close for the day, and when you wait till evening, flight like Dana may come very late at night, and sometimes, it will not arrive, and by that time, many people will not like to book for commercial vehicle”, he said.
Meanwhile, a travel agent, who wished to be anoyimous, decried the rate at which the airport is going down in terms of flights operations, noting that Port Harcourt airport ought to be competing with the other major airports like Lagos and Abuja.
He queried if such was a calculated attempt to bring the airport to its kneel in terms of flight operations, while other major airports have steady flow of flight operations both for domestic and international.
TheTide observed a continuous distortions in flight movement at the airport. Some of the airlines, like Max air, which many passengers patronize, have completely stopped operations, and no new airline has been added.
Apart from the Air Peace Airline that has maintained some level of stability in operations, other few operators have been involved in either steady rescheduling of flights, cancellation and regular delay, resulting in poor and unpredictable flight movement, which affects or determine other businesses in the airport.
By: Corlins Walter
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