OAS Boss Flays Cash Disbursement To Airline Operators

The Managing Director of OAS Helicopter, Captain Everest Nnaji has condemned giving cash to airline operators, saying that management of funds is a concern in the aviation industry.

Nnaji who spoke to newsmen canvassed the injection of funds into the sector by the Federal Government, which should be deployed to the acquisition of new aircraft to add value to the safety profile of airlines.

He spoke against the backdrop of the intervention funds proposed for domestic airlines, pointing out that the idea of government investing in the construction of a national hanger may not be advisable now because there is no evidence to buttress the available local capacity for the maintenance of aircraft in Nigeria.

According to him, “I will advise them further on what has just started. They gave out money to Bank of Industry in what could be called debt buy back, a kind of intervention that enables the bank to take from the money an airline owes them”, stressing that it is quite relieving and stress immune.

Meanwhile, Aero Contractors Airline has launched a facility that will enable bookings on – hold via SMS and payment on the internet through www.quickteller.com. The booking platform took effect from this month.

This application, which has been integrated into the aero ticket – sale booking engine, offers customers the opportunity to book for flight tickets from any part of the country via SMS with mobile phones.

Captain Akin George, Managing Director of Aero said: “We are excited to introduce the SMS booking option. It has been our policy to make travel more easy, affordable, simple and conveniently book for tickets without having to go to the airline’s sales desk”.

He pointed out that customers can access the option by first making reservations by phone via the SMS and then make payment online through Quickteller.com across the country using the booking reference.

George explained that customers can purchase a ticket from their mobile phones by just sending two SMS to a short code advising customers to look up for available flights by sending their departure and destination city, the date they want to fly to a short code 32120 in this format: Aero Lagos-Abuja July 20, and listen for a response.