Airline Operators Lament High Cost Of Aviation Fuel

Airline operators in the
country have lamented the high cost of aviation fuel and called on the Federal Government to intervene in the scarcity and high cost of the product to ensure smooth operations.
The Managing Director of Med View Airline, Mr Munir Bankole, stated this in Lagos when he took delivery of an additional Boeing 737-500 series aircraft with registration No. 5N-BQM from France.
Mr Bankole hinted that scarcity of aviation fuel and the attendant high cost is the major challenge airline operators were grappling with, saying it ultimately influences air fares.
He called on the government to help local airlines in the country by giving the major fuel suppliers some window that would make products easily accessible and available to airline operators in the country.
“For us operating an airline is a national assignment, so you will help me tell President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Petroleum about this problem, it is national issue, we are not talking as Med View, we want to talk in general with other operators,” he said.
On the airline’s domestic operations, the managing director said the airline has flown over two hundred and fifty passengers within nine months of its operation in the country.
Mr Bankole said med view Airlines will add an additional 737-800 series aircraft soon to further enhance its regional and international operations, pointing out that the airline has already been given several frequencies of different international destinations across the globe.
He explained that based on the rapid growth of passengers patronising the airline, enough aircraft were needed to meet the demand of air travellers.
According to him, “we are going to expand to Port Harcourt and Abuja, we are also expanding to Enugu. For our domestic operations, the traffic load has been very heavy, I want to say categorically that we move close to 1,300 and 1,400 passengers on daily bases.