Aviation infrastructure crisis imminent

•      Delay, cancellations mount

A major crisis looms in Nigeria’s aviation sector as the gap between infrastructure to match the growing travel population continues to widen, Woleshadare.net has learnt.

Domestic airlines operating in Nigeria recorded 30,214 cases of delayed flights between January and December 2017, according to figures released by the Consumer Protection Department of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The 2018 European summer was an air traffic management mess of epic proportion. Delay minutes ballooned to 14 million minutes by end of October, up 53 per cent on 2017. How long is 14 million minutes? That is 26 years.

A source close to the Federal Government, who preferred anonymity, told this newspaper that this informed government hasting up on completion and commissioning some airport terminals in Port Harcourt, to be followed by those in Lagos and Abuja ‘very soon’.

The source that put Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure deficit at over $35 billion, said government alone cannot fund the country’s aviation infrastructure, adding that to solve the problem, government was considering partnering with private sector to bridge the yawning gap.

Nigeria has at least 26 airports scattered across the country out of which those in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Kaduna are considered to be viable, operating 24 hours.

Others, without the lightning facilities, are sunset airports, already closed to operations by 5:30pm. The implication is that active duration is reduced to about eight hours with attendant underutilised aircraft that cost both the airlines and the sector a lot of revenue.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had recently said that the Federal Government was willing to work with development banks, foreign investors and private firms to bridge infrastructure funding deficit in the country’s aviation industry.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of International Air Transport Association (IATA), Alexandre de Juniac, at the just concluded IATA Global Media Day held in Geneva, Switzerland, lamented that airlines cannot connect the world without airports and air traffic management.

He stated that airlines are approaching an infrastructure crisis, stressing that in some locations, they are already there.

“Getting this right, however, is a difficult long-term challenge. Decisions must be made today if we want infrastructure to be in place a decade from now,” he said. “
Our projections are for 8.2 billion air journeys in 2037 (about four billion more than today). Any planning by most governments is not ambitious enough to meet that demand.”

It is also projected that passenger traffic will more than double to about 35 million per annum by the same period from about 16 million traffic recorded in 2017. It has become inevitable that airport facilities must be expanded and modernised to take in the passenger growth.

All over the world, governments are seeking alternative funding mechanism too to solve the problems by applying different privatisation/concession models.
IATA urged governments to take a cautious approach when considering airport privatisation and to prioritise the long-term economic and social benefits delivered by an effective airport ahead of the short-term financial gains provided by a poorly thought-out privatisation.

“We are in an infrastructure crisis. Cash-strapped governments are looking to the private sector to help develop much needed airport capacity. But it is wrong to assume that the private sector has all the answers,” says de Juniac.

He explained that airlines have not yet experienced an airport privatisation that has fully lived up to its promised benefits over the long term.

“Airports are critical infrastructure,” he added. “It is important that governments take a long-term view focusing on solutions that will deliver the best economic and social benefits. Selling airport assets for a short-term cash injection to the treasury is a mistake.”

Data shows that currently, about 14 per cent of airports globally have some level of privatisation. As they tend to be large hubs, they handle about 40 per cent of global traffic.
“IATA research shows that private sector airports are more expensive. But we could not see any gains in efficiency or levels of investment,” said de Juniac.

Recognising that when airport privatisation is pursued, a key determinant of success is the effective balance of the interests of consumers, airlines, investors, citizens and economies IATA’s member airlines.

Wole Shadare