The CEO of Medview Airline, Muneer Bankole said that government has to do more to improve air travel in Nigeria, but as at now air travel in the country is tough. Bankole spoke to selected journalists recently in Kaduna.
We heard that your operation to London has been infringed upon because of issues concerning certification. What is the true picture?
There is no issue. What you have heard in the past, which is not for me to tell you lies, is that when you have issues of safety, you don’t discuss it on the pages of newspapers because it has to do with peoples’ lives. When the report is misinforming, it sends panic to travellers. Med-view has been known for safety compliance, Med-view has been known for the ruggedness, today we are 11 years on the hajj.
Today we are the only airline running London, we are still sustaining it, it is not easy to be with the big boys and I am proud to tell you, I was invited to Brussels (for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) meeting). I sat down to address the entire 28 EU nations and I want to thank them for listening.
But has the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approved your operations to London in terms of giving Medview certification?
There is no EASA certification. What you have to understand and what we people need to know is that when you go to a country, UK authority, including EU communities said that for an airline to come from a third country; you must have a TCO (Third Country Operator Permit) and that TCO will enable you to fly within their airspace. It is just that when we fly in their airspace, we pay to Eurocontrol. Eurocontrol is just lime the over flight charges we pay to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA). So they take over flight when we fly to Algeria into France before you get to UK. So somebody is taking responsibility.
So the EASA certificate is one thing that bothers on European communities, the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certificate is the one that comes from IATA which is superior for all airlines. As an airline, we have been certified, including E-IOSA.
What is up on your London route now?
As you are aware, Medview commenced operations into UK on November 20 2015. We have airlifted close to 70,000 to 80,000 passengers. Our commitment today is to rebrand the London operations; that is why we decided to bring B777-200 aircraft. It is a brand new aircraft. We have reconfigured the Business Class with Air France seats, you sleep at the business class cabin and we ensure that what the customers are asking for in terms of in-flight entertainment has been provided; it is totally in-built. Every single economy passenger has his own screen. We are rebranding it and to be honest with you, between now and the middle of September, there is no seat on Medview for those who are coming home. So I seize this opportunity to commend Nigerians and all the passengers who have chosen the partnership with Med-view and who believe in this company.
Now with this brand new aircraft, are you looking at other routes?
We had the plan to commence Dubai July 4 and the challenge we are facing is that the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority tried to compel us to go to DWC (Dubai World Central), which we rejected and the case has been passed to the Nigerian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the Consul General in Dubai and the Ministry of Aviation and they have written us a letter showing that they are handling the case. We have rescheduled our plan to 7th of November and I hope they will see reason.
How are you looking at the operational environment in Nigeria now? How are things working?
In fairness, it is very worrisome. We are still sustaining our operation. If we want to ask ourselves, how many airlines we met on the way and where are they now? It is not a good omen for the country but we have to pray to God for the best.
On the international routes, it is like EU is using approvals to drive away African carriers?
Let me tell you the game. European carriers and the Nigerian carriers are the same. We are governed by one body. Each country has one regulatory authority; you can call it different names. In Nigeria as you know, it is NCAA. In Dubai, you have DCAA. They are all under ICAO (the International Civil Aviation Organisation) safety control and the commercial side of it is under IATA. The basis of everything is for government of any country to create the enabling environment to let each airline survive. In the other parts of the world, you see government subsidizing so many things. Here you know the problems we have with charges. We have talked about creating an environment for us to thrive. It is very challenging here and that’s why you are seeing decline in our number. Membership of AON (Airline Operators of Nigeria) was 26 before. Today you can see only six or seven.
How prepared is Medview for this year’s airlift of pilgrims to the Holy Land?
We give thanks to Almighty Allah. 2017 airlift has started and we wish all our intending pilgrims a safe Hajj Mabrur and all the carriers that are participating in this exercise a successful airlift operation. For Med-view, we have three aeroplanes that we have slated for this exercise. The first is Boeing B747-400 which has capacity of 463 passengers. The second aircraft is B777-200 which is joining the fleet and it is equally the new aircraft that Med-view is introducing this year for this exercise. And the third one is B767-300 with extended range. That shows the seriousness and commitment of the airline and we are fully ready.
You have been involved in this operation for many years, will you say the number of pilgrims is increasing or decreasing?
The airlift exercise in the past, because of the construction work in the two holy houses of Saudi Arabia, the number was cut down. But today that number has returned and Nigeria has about 95,000 quota. So the economic situation and the dollars affect the pilgrims and everybody has tried to appeal to government that this is a commitment for the government to assist these people to fulfill their righteous obligations, both Muslims and Christians because this is the only window that people go for spiritual things and bring blessings to the country. We need it so much.
Are you worried that another foreign airline is involved in the Hajj airlift and do you think the indigenous carriers have the capacity to airlift all the pilgrims?
I will tell you that it is not correct. Today we have a strong partner; Max Air. The airline has about three airplanes which carry almost 500 passengers each. Med- View has three which carries about 1000 per day. If you put all these together and multiply by the number of days we have, the passengers are less than the capacity of Nigerian airlines. I repeat, it is less than what we can carry. But we are always open to competition which makes us to believe our partner, our friend from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Are you looking at doing international flights from Kaduna?
I was with His Excellency, the Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai and his team, we were in Beijing and Mumbai and I commend the Governor for his noble idea to develop this state with high commitment on aviation. There is an interested party from China that is prepared to build a strong MRO (Maintenance Repair and Overhaul) facility. In the whole of Africa, we have only three MRO facilities. So we can save between 600,000 to $1 million we spend on maintenance abroad if we have our own MRO. The Governor has shown interest in this and that is why Medview is fully on ground here. We run daily flights from Kaduna and we have done Umrah flights from Kaduna and we are here again doing Hajj.
So why don’t we find a way to spend this money locally instead of repatriating it overseas through aircraft maintenance. This is why it is necessary that we build MRO in Nigeria and that is what the Governor of Kaduna state wants to do. We run daily flight to Kaduna. That is our commitment.
The maintenance, repair and overhaul if built will generate foreign exchange for Nigeria. We have seen some expatriates from China, Beijing precisely and they were here (in Kaduna) and have indicated interest to build MRO facility here and their company CCECC (China Civil Engineering Construction Company) is here to build the facility. We really need some o these things in this country. When completed it will b strategic to both the north and the south.
Are you elated that NCAA is certifying the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and other three airports in the country?
When I was coming to the Lagos airport this morning I saw the project going on at the right hand side and I told somebody with me in the car that we should appreciate efforts being made in this country. Somebody was a Minister Senator Stella Oduah) and did this project and we have now seen that it is getting ready. So we are happy that the airport is growing and you can see a lot of development being put in place and we hope we will continue to put our energy in the continuous development of these airport facilities. It is in line with this development spirit that we in Medview have decided to support the International Aviation College, Ilorin.
Since Medview has been quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange last year, what has been the experience?
I wish to thank the shareholders who believe in us and invested in the company. We just came into the market and gave out dividend of about N301 million. So we are building a solid airline that is disciplined and is always in compliance in payment of our financial obligations to the aviation agencies and others. We fulfill our obligations and show commitment in the development of the aviation industry. You must be diligent, sincere and build integrity and people will always respect you
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