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Demand for air travel rises in Nigeria despite recession
*We are not stopping flights-Delta Airlines
Air travel demand from Nigeria has begun to rise marginally despite economic recession that has taken a toll on aviation.
Director, East and West Africa for Delta Airlines, Bobby Bryan at a media parley held in Lagos.
He stated that as a result of that, the carrier had never contemplated leaving Nigeria, saying that air travel would bounce back to what it used to be.
He further stated that Nigerians’ penchant for travel would in no distance future help air travel to rebound.
Bobby Bryan, Commercial Director, East and West Africa, Delta Air Lines.
Nigerians found it extremely difficult to travel over the skyrocketing fares; some getting to as high as 100 per cent especially on international routes.
According to figures released by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in second quarter of 2016, passenger movement at both local and international travel depleted and it is projected that it would continue to drop till the middle of next year.
Demand for business air travel fell by almost a quarter during the downturn and is unlikely to return to pre-recession levels on short-haul routes, a new report has found.
Analysis shows that international business travel to and from Nigeria fell by 40 per cent late last year and October; a situation that forced airlines to cut flights and in surprise move stop flights.
Airlines like Emirates and Delta stopped their Abuja flights, leaving just their Lagos flights. But for United and Iberia, they decided to pull out of the country as others cut capacity by 50 per cent.
Bryan said the recession accentuated the trend away from business class to economy, stressing that as growth returns, business travel will revive, but it is an open question how far some of the economies made in the recession will permanently affect the way companies allow employees to travel.
Experts said a ‘step down’ in demand as a result of the recent recession, over and above that which would have been expected from the observed changes in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), trade or fares.
The Delta Airline chief who declined to comment on the airline’s funds trapped in the country, adding that what they were asking the government to do was to help them repatriate their ticket sales and not profit.
He however commended the Federal Government for releasing some of the trapped funds, adding “the government has been helpful to a certain degree, but we must continue to appeal to tell them to help us because the problem has not gone away.”
Low value of Naira and the inability of foreign carriers to repatriate their revenues forced United Airlines and others to withdraw services to Nigeria.
As at March 31, 2016, foreign airlines funds trapped with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was about $575 million leading to lose of substantial value.
The Federal Government had He noted that Nigeria remains a very strong market for the airline saying it has never crossed the carrier’s mind to cease services to Nigeria.
His words, “Delta will continue to continue to offer the fastest connectivity experienced in the sky by increasing its commitment. Nigeria is one of Delta’s most important offices. Delta is the only US airline to operate to the US from Nigeria. We will remain here for many more years.”
He puts the airline’s load factor in and out of Nigeria at 73 per cent with nearly one million passengers airlifted since the carrier started operations to Lagos since December 2007.
“This is a market that is still growing. There had been deep decrease in air travel. The desire of people to travel has not gone down. Demand for air travel has begun to rise despite recession in the last few months.”
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