Nigeria: Foreign carriers dominate as local air market shrinks



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By Wole Oyebade

The bad exit of Nigerian airlines on international routes forced the current market for air travel in the country to shrink. Estimates of capacity and frequencies recorded at airports are discouraging.

Local airlines, small, weak and undercapitalized, are unable to compete favorably with the potential local market.

Some 23 foreign airlines are taking advantage of the local market. inefficient, controlling at least 90% of the market share on roads to and from Nigeria.

Currently, only Air Peace is operational on the west coast while other domestic carriers have suspended most international operations. , following its takeover by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), suspended its operations in London, New York and Johannesburg.

Med-View Airlines Plc, citing operational and rental difficulties, also temporarily retained London, Dubai and West Coast Services.

Nick Fadugba, CEO of African Aviation Services Limited, observed that activities, especially airport connectivity According to Fadugba, the Nigerian hubs of Lagos and Abuja airports have declined in terms of capacity and frequencies.

According to estimates of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nigeria (NCAA), the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, had a total capacity of 115,919 in 2012, but this figure is fell to 90,014 in 2017. The total number of frequencies also fell from 811 to 603.

The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport of Abuja 54,600 in 2012 and 50,520 in 2017, while the total frequencies are from 413 in 2012 to 392 in 2017.

This occurred while other major airports on the African continent were on the path of growth.

For example, the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia increased its total capacity from 100,900 in 2012 to 181,547 in 2017. Frequencies of 614 in 2012 also increased to 1,005 in 2017.

Jomo Kenyatta International In Nairobi, Kenya, total capacity was 111,883 in 2012, rising to 117,234 in 2017, while the total frequency increased from 983 to 1,060 in five years.

The Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana, also increased its total capacity from 35,794 in 2012 to 45,108 in 2017, while the total frequencies of 280 in 2012 increased to 351 in five years.

Fadugba said that Nigeria had an international and national air transport market, but "lack of knowledge and business acumen, basics like fleet planning, scheduling of the road network and the Financing and leasing aircraft, is a major constraint in the very complex aviation industry in Nigeria. "

According to him, there is also lack of cooperation between airlines. Joint ventures, line spacing and code sharing that are now the thing between the historic carriers "Win-win partnership is a strategy of success."

Secretary General of the Roundtable Initiative on Aviation Safety (ASRTI) ), a group think tank, Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), has accused the Nigerian commercial aviation market of losing what he described as loose funds that a lot of 's. between them have little or nothing in the aeronautical sector.

He also blamed the situation on defective business plans that would have been recycled among operators. According to Ojikutu, airlines generally belong to traders traditional or to Nigerian businessmen and do not really attract technical investors and gurus from the conference rooms. "The pbadengers are stranded not because it is n? There are no planes but

One or two of the four airlines now have about 30 new or modern aircraft in their fleet, but how many of them can they put in the air in a day or how many hours each of these planes fly in a day

"How many technical teams are available to fly available planes?

Having a lot of planes in your fleet should not be an ego to mark as capacity but the use of this ability is what should matter to you

Nigerian Airways, at some point in his life , did not have as many planes as some of the current airlines, but it covered more national and international routes than all current airlines,

He stressed the need for line spacing and a code-sharing between operators, stating "as long as there will be unique ownership problems in Nigerian commercial aviation, and the airlines are not ready to and it's not There is no efficient ways to use the capacity, air pbadengers will continue to suffer. "

To the CEO of Med-View Plc Airlines, Muneer Bankole, the problem is more likely to be a problem. harsh operating environment that has almost Bankole, while taking delivery of a new Boeing 777-200ER for Med-View, said that airlines in other countries were better off, given a healthy and supportive environment for businesses that is lacking in Nigeria. :

"The truth is that doing business is difficult here, and someone who manages to survive should have the credit.

You know very well that the environment is not auspicious, many political problems, security threats, financial issues.

"So, for those of us who are still in the business, I will say, we give thanks to God by helping us to maintain this momentum.

It has never been easy; Do you talk about fees, taxes, transaction costs and weather? Thank God that we have maintained the case. "

His counterpart in Air Peace, Allen Onyema, lamented that the environment continued to be thrown against the operators because the government would have failed to support the industry to grow and be competitive

" We are going through very difficult spots. You can operate all existing operators in the same environment. I can badure you that they will only last 72 hours.

He said that an example of how the federal government failed to support them was to allow foreign carriers to take multiple flights out of Nigeria, which he described as "a rape on the economy"

He adds: "ASKY was established in Togo and their population is not as high as that of Lagos but they are flying in Nigeria and in other countries. Other countries, which means that their market is not Togo. AirPeace) wanted to go there, we were given permission in Nigeria to go there and we were told that we could not fly.

"I went to see the media and I threatened to make a complaint.

It's supposed to be where the country stands up for the airline, but no … Finally, they decided to give us approvals, but they charged a landing fee of $ 5000.

Up to now, we are not flying in Ivory Coast because of their ridiculous charges, yet Ivory Coast Air

So, how did we protect our airlines from wilt? "

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