Low Patronage: PHIA Business Operators Count Losses

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Rivers State, Mr Austine Orlu-Orlu (middle), commissioning SEEFOR project buses in Port Harcourt last Monday. With him are SEEFOR officials Photo: Obina Prince Dele

Business operators at the
Port Harcourt International  Airport (PHIA), Omagwa have been counting their losses  following a sharp decline in the number of air travellers and their patronage.
Some of the operators who spoke to The Tide Aviation Correspondent within  the week lamented low patronage occasioned by reduction in air travel particularly on Abuja and other routes.
A Manager of Genesis Fast Food located conspicuously at the airport who would rather remain anonymous said their business operation had witnessed low customer patronage since the postponement of the scheduled election by six weeks.
He noted that the ever busy outfit can now count the number of persons that access their premises and patronize them, describing the period as unfriendly business time.
The manager, said the high rent paid to the airport authority  would be difficult to meet up, if the situation continues  but expressed the hope  that things would change after the general elections.
Another Food vendor popularly called Kalabari Kitchens said the reduction  in patronage has resulted in keen competition among them and hopes that the scenario would not  continue for too long.
A car hire service provider Mr. Stephen collaborated the views expressed by others when he said “there is no business, business is not moving again since they announced the postponement of the elections.
“Many of our customers who are politicians are busy  campaigning for  the elections, movement has reduced drastically because they want to win in their various wards and local government areas”, he said.
A staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) attached  to the VIP Protocol  Lounge recently relocated to a temporary office, said  they  hardly receive  protocol guests and attributed it to the  forthcoming elections which had engaged many of the VIP travellers that used the Lounge.
It would be recalled  that the airport which used to be a beehive of activities on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays is now a shadow  of itself  within the past one month.
Parking space for cars that had been stressful are now  begging for cars to park on them, however,  this would  soon change  and the airport would come  alive  again immediately the elections are over.