The Chairman/CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema said he supports the idea of establishing the proposed national carrier – Nigeria Air,as long as it follows due process, saying that the federal government must create a level playing field for all operators. Onyema who spoke at recent League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents seminar noted that a national carrier established in line with due process would create jobs. Chinedu Ezewho was there provides the excerpts:
What do you think the government should do to solve the challenges bedevilling the aviation sector since when you clamoured for the removal of VAT, the government listened?
Well, there are so many challenges out there. The VAT issues was just one of them. There are other problems that are very debilitating. The government has done well by removing VAT and we appreciate and thank the government for doing that. We also expect government to improve first and foremost the airport infrastructure in this country. The airport infrastructure is not all that supportive of our airline operations, not just Air Peace, every other airline. Once the airport infrastructure is improved upon the airlines will start to get it right.
What is your reaction to the demand for interlining by domestic airlines?
Yes, of course, we are discussing. The Nigerian domestic airlines are discussing. The discussion has been on for the past one year. We are trying to see how we can cooperate with each other so that we ensure consumer satisfaction; so that when you have one plane down it doesn’t mean that the world will come to an end. Your brother airline can come to your rescue. Interlining is the way to go in this business and we are speaking to ourselves sooner than later you will hear something from us.
How is your operation in the West Coast and what is your view on reciprocity so far under the ECOWAS and open sky for Africa arrangement?
It is not as if the Nigerian airlines do not support the single African transport market, we support it but there has to be a level of reciprocity, it shouldn’t be one sided.
Nigeria shouldn’t open its doors unrestricted in the name of open skies while those other countries are not allowing us easy gateway into their country. We have a country in West Africa, they do about four, five operations into this country, no single Nigerian airline is going to their country; not because we don’t want to go there but because they are making it impossible for us to operate to their country.
One of the countries in West Africa is preventing us from operating to their cities because when Air Peace went there to setup, what they did was that they slammed us with about $10,000 for every landing. The total number you are airlifting to that destination may not even generate $10, 000. But Nigeria is not giving them the same treatment. In the spirit of reciprocity, we expect that when they give Nigerian airline such outrageous charges our country should reciprocate. That will force a compromise and a win-win situation,
In Nigeria we are laying the red carpet for foreign airlines to rape our economy; it shouldn’t be. So, in the name of open skies we shouldn’t do unrestricted traffic to the foreign airlines because they are not doing the same thing to us. Togo even wrote me stopping me from flying to their country. They said because one other Nigerian airline has been given one right to come in, meanwhile, Asky of Togo was coming into Nigeria about five times a day until I wanted to go to court; that was when they now gave us the permit.
But they will wait for you in their countries and frustrate you; that is what we have been getting. The kind of charges we pay in these countries Nigeria does not reciprocate that. That is against the spirit of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and all the conventions you can think of.
So, we have to protect ourselves. I cannot get offices in my own country and foreign airlines are being given offices. I want to do international operations in the last two years I have not been able to do so. They have not allocated a lounge that can give my business class or first-class passengers a place to stay and tomorrow everybody will be shouting that Nigerian airlines are not performing.
Am I being supported? We are not being supported, so we need to support our own. We must start supporting Nigerian indigenous airlines for them to succeed. We are not asking them for money, we are asking for enabling environment to operate. I don’t see the reason why I should not have a lounge in my own country and foreign airlines are being given preference over me. So, these are the things we are saying. We support SAATM (Single African Air Transport Market), but it must come with the right price.
The federal government has just unveiled a new national carrier. The new airline is expected to thrive on public, private partnership (PPP). Will you be willing to partner with government if possible?
The government has launched a national carrier. As the founder of Air Peace Chairman, why did I go into aviation in the first place? I went into aviation to create jobs. I love touching lives. So, if this national carrier will bring about more job creation in the country, I support it. If this national carrier is going to improve the lives of our people, I will support it.
However, if this national carrier is going to disrupt the industry negatively and affect the local airlines negatively, then I will not support it. That is why we are calling for transparency in everything. If it is private sector driven, I am a private sector investor; Medview is private sector, Dana, Overland Topbrass and others. Now, if the national carrier is a private sector driven airline, we support it. I cannot say there shouldn’t be national carrier, I support it. For me notto support the national carrier is tantamount to me not wanting another airline to exist; that is not the issue here.
The issue here is that the Nigerian indigenous airlines are saying we want to be carried along; we want to know how we are going to run this national carrier. If you say it is a private sector carrier that means it is going to be owned by private person or private persons. Are you going to give these private persons the privileges of my country which you have not made available us who are existing? I have acquired four Boeing B777s, today Medview’s first B777 arrived Nigeria.
We have invested massively.The question is, what is the lot of these private indigenous airlines who have massively invested in acquiring these planes? I am sure the national carrier is not going to acquire five B 777s between now and December. Now others have acquired it are they going to come to us and say okay lets partner? So we are not against that but we are asking for a level playing field for everybody.
Because you cannot give the privileges of my country to another private person and neglecting me that has already been there, then it is not fair.
At the conference you spoke about how the experts are influencing government to take decisions that may sometimes not be of best interest for the industry?
When we are taking advice from our so-called experts, we have to be wary about the kind of things you are reporting. I am referring to journalists in the industry. When they talk to you, look at the ulterior motive and weigh whether it would promote the general good or for the parochial interest of a few. This is important so that you will not inadvertently promote interests that may harm the industry.
The experts canvassed that each airline should have 20 airplanes. If it is so, tell me where they will fly? The most viable airports are the triangle: Lagos, Abuja Port Harcourt. Anything outside Abuja and Lagos you will struggle with other airlines to have even 60 per cent load factor. And it is known in the industry that you can only succeed with about 75 per cent load factor. But that is in climes where the right fares are even paid. One hundred per cent load factor in Nigeria may not even service your planes; where some airlines are charging N16, 000, N18, 000 for one-hour flight.
If you like carry passengers on the wings of your plane tie them on the tail of your plane; you will never generate enough money you will use to maintain your fleet at that fare. So, when we say 75 per cent load factor, we are talking about where the right fares are charged. I flew from Atlanta to Miami, I bought my ticket that same day, I paid almost $400. I didn’t even have the luxury of getting a business class ticket; it was economy that was $400. This is because I bought it the same day. That amount is over N150, 000. Even our business class is about N60, 000, which is less than $200 and you are talking about why we fail in Nigeria.
Yet people are saying that each airline will have 20 aircraft. Air Peace flies four times to Owerri. Dana goes to Owerri, Arik goes to Owerri. I don’t know who else is going to Owerri. Go and look at the passenger figures and tell me if it is something that is very encouraging. Besides going to Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt; the others you struggle.
Nigerian airlines deserve kudos for being able to operate under the current environment. We are going through a very rough patch. We are operating in most unfriendly environment. It is not something that started today. It has been there over the years. I have to agree that we the airlines have our own blame too. The so-called industry experts should stop castigating us and giving the government wrong ideas about us.
You said operators in the sector are already meeting to form partnership, can you tell us more about that?
There are different types of partnership. Some people have called for forced merger of Nigerian airlines. I have never heard a thing like that. Why should you force airlines to merge? What the international aviation consultant, Nick Fadugba is calling for is not forced merger, but leveraging on other airlines to succeed. That is coming together. The domestic airlines can decide to have an agreement. If my aircraft breaks down I can put my passengers on another airline and we both benefit from airlifting, then to their destination.
This will help us and also help the passengers. Mr. Fadugba is calling for an airline leveraging on the cooperation of other airlines to succeed; to come together. We have failed to cooperate with ourselves. There is a lot of mistrust among the airlines themselves. We don’t trust each other and that is the problem. But the truth is that the sky is too wide for all of us to operate. We are blessed in Nigeria. We are over 180 million people. We have the geography and the landmass. We have everything that will make airlines succeed. Yet, a minor like Togo is succeeding in aviation than us. We should not fight ourselves. We should come together and make it work.
