Air Nigeria Urges Support To Aviation Industry

The Chief Executive Officer of Air Nigeria, Mr Kinfe Kayssafe has called on the federal government to provide adequate support as well as implement policies that would engender growth in the aviation sector.

Kayssafe who moved from Africa’s most successful carrier, Ethiopian airline to head Air Nigeria said that government must be ready to play a leading role if Nigerians would benefit from the huge opportunities offered by its air transport industry.

“Government should own the industry by establishing the destiny of the sector in terms of providing infrastructure, giving support to the airlines. That is the key area government should have been playing a key role, laying strategy for the growth of the airlines. So, government should jointly have a strategy with indigenous airlines on low to grow these carriers and government should lay out a strategy that must be implemented by these airlines to ensure their growth”.

He said that so much credit should go to the Ethiopian government for the success of its national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, pointing out that “although the Ethiopian government is not giving the airline funds to carry out its daily operations, it strategically supports it through waivers on spare parts, acquisition of aircraft and negotiations with other countries the airline operates into”.

Kayssafe noted that the Nigerian airlines were going through difficult times, stressing that the only way they could come out of the woods was for government to support them in every way possible.

According to him, the establishment of maintenance facility is a sine qua non to the growth of the air transport in any country as well as a prerequisite to developing a hub, considering the large passenger traffic in Nigeria.

“Nigerian airlines lose huge resources carrying out maintenance, overhaul and repair (MRO) of their aircraft overseas”, he added.