Departed foreign airlines may return, restore capacity

 There are indications that some international airlines that departed Nigeria and cut frequencies in the face of recession ravaging the country’s economy may return or restore their frequencies following hint that travel demands are rising marginally.

A source very close to some foreign carriers said Nigeria is a very important market for them and may decide to increase their flight number, which they cut drastically owing to their funds that were trapped in the country and other issues that affected their operations.

Commercial Director, East and West Africa for Delta Airlines, Bobby Bryan, who corroborated rise in air travel demand, said his airline witnessed demand in load factor and capacity.

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.

Delta Airline has said that despite the recession in the county, the airline has continued to survive due to the strong travel market in Nigeria.

The airline also disclosed that it has carried nearly one million passengers between Nigeria and the United States since December 2007, when it commenced operations into Lagos.

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.

Bryan said customers using their service benefit from convenient onward connections to more than 200 business and leisure destinations throughout the United States including key destinations such as Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, New York and Washington.

He said Nigeria is a very important market for Delta and is a key market in its international network.

“Strong travel market in Nigeria has sustained us… our commitment to the market and staff…we have adjusted schedules and some policies, we will keep flying and adjusting as the economy dictates, we hope to grow the market the more, the market has been challenging but it was a positive achievement in the market during the period,” he said.

Though, lack of forex was the most challenging issues, according to him, he thanked the Nigerian government for coming to the rescue of the airlines, adding that they need more assistance in this area.

Bryan noted that in the past few months, ‘demand for air travel has been rising,’ adding that ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

According to him, the airline has spent $4 billion in providing world-class travel to its teeming passengers, especially at the Atlanta terminal, adding that it now operates to 213 destinations to 66 international destinations with 1,011 flights per day.

“Delta has been leading the way since 2011, we don’t joke with time, on time performance is key to us”, he said. Speaking further, he said: while we continue to expand travel options for our customers, we are also committed to offering our customers the best overall travel experience on our Lagos flights.

He disclosed that the airline has deployed the Radio Frequency Identification technology across the business to help take the stress out of travel, like implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology. Consequently, he said Delta customers can now track their bag’s last scanned location on the Fly Delta mobile app.

“The new map enhancement builds on new RFID bag tags and the roll out of RFID tracking technology at 84 airports in the U.S. All domestic stations now offer map view of the bag’s journey and international stations will receive this technology.