By Chinedu Eze
The inability of Nigerian airlines to attain high level of growth has been attributed to why they cannot play significant roles in airlifting Nigerians to international destinations.
The absence of Nigerian airlines in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) clearing house is one of the factors militating against the growth of indigenous carriers.
This development also explains why the indigenous carriers cannot successfully operate international destinations or codeshare with foreign airlines that operate into the country.
Industry expert and former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Richard Aisuebeogun stated these in an interview with THISDAY.
“I do believe the carrier that provides services in the international space is either ill prepared or has not attained that level of growth and preparedness to fly our flag in the international market. To successfully operate international destinations, strong presence in the IATA clearing house is a must. Sadly, we are not even on this platform. A serious international carrier cannot operate as a standalone or just depend on point to point traffic. Even the legacy carriers know the importance of alliances, codeshares and interlines,” Aisuebeogun who has the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Airport Accreditation certificate (IAP) said.
According to him, a serious international carrier knows the importance of a working and real time Global Distribution System (GDS), adding that no major carrier feeds into Internet based GDSs, hence the distribution channels leveraging these platforms are already confined to local destinations and traffic.
“There is a completely non-existence of products, brand essence and there is a geometric erosion of goodwill due to lack of reliability as a result very dismal flight statistics status; non-compliance with either the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) or IATA standards during flight disruptions. While flight disruption is not so much of a challenge, the handling of same is even of far more significance and there is dearth of capacity especially human capital,” Aisuebeogun said.
The former FAAN boss also spoke about how the airports in the country could be grown, saying that government should see airports as a facility that is capable of enhancing an entire value chain and not just a contraption for the movement of goods and persons.
“There should be more collaboration between government and private entities for the intended definition of privatisation and regulators and partners should see themselves as partners and work together for a common purpose and there should be enhanced capacity development. Technically, we have about three or four category III airports. That shows very high standards. And on infrastructure, while some strides were made during the last administration, I would say we are still a work in progress,” Aisuebeogun said.
He said there should be government conscious strategy to position the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos as African hub, adding that this could not be left to FAAN as it is more about the country than the airport operator.
He said there should be categorisation of airports, adding this should be strictly adhered to so that any airport recognised as a cargo airport should be strictly adhered to in order to develop their different capacities.
He remarked that the policy of Aerotropolis as posited by the last administration should be sustained, noting that generally, airport infrastructure is still below par.
“There is need for less reliance on aeronautical charges. It is not only the way to go but has now become necessary. It is contestable if the current stream of aeronautical charges is able to meet FAAN’s recurrent commitments. It should be made clear however that while advertising if properly harnessed can provide the airport operator with very healthy incomes, it is definitely not the only source of additional incomes. Automated car parks, tolling, royalties, fuel charges among others are other sources,” Aisuebeogun said.
