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Despite recession, we are here to stay-SAA chief
South Africa’s national airline, South Africa Airways (SAA) said despite the tough economic reality, the airline does not plan to exit the country, saying it believes in the nation’s burgeoning aviation market.
To show its commitment to, the carrier said it would be celebrating its 20 years of operations to Nigeria in few weeks’ time.
Regional Manager, North, West and Central Africa for the airline, Mr. Ohis Ehimiagh, at a media get together with the media in Lagos said contrary to insinuations; the carrier does not intend to stop flights to the country.
Aside Ethiopian, SAA is one of the few airlines that still maintain its Lagos and Abuja operations, adding its operations in the cities of Abuja and Lagos has encouraged trade and business.
His words, “SAA is not stopping flights to Nigeria. We are bringing our newest product to this market. We are not reducing capacity and we are not stopping operations. It is not part of our plans; we believe in this country’s enormous potentials, the reason we are tapping into it. We are here to stay in Nigeria.”
Penultimate week, Commercial Director for West, East, Central and Lusophone Africa at Delta Air Lines, said the carrier does not plan to leave the country, Bobby Bryan disclosing, “We’re here, we’re not going anywhere. We see growth here, whether there are other carriers or not. So it doesn’t change our plans particularly.”
He stated that the airline’s message to people is, “We’re not going anywhere, we’re committed to this market.”
Ehimiaghe offered hope to Nigerians and other operators, saying the recession currently faced by the country would soon be over just as he described it as cyclical thing that will soon fizzle out.
His words, “Recession does not last forever. It is a cyclical thing. It will be over and growth will come. Our industry is a regulated industry.”
He pleaded with government to put up modalities to help carriers repatriate their funds that are trapped in Nigeria, lamenting that the devaluation of Naira has eroded the value of humongous funds trapped in the country by 40 per cent.
He however did not disclose how much of the carrier’s funds that are still in the country, saying that only the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has the right to make that public.
As at June this year, total funds of airlines’ trapped funds stood at $591million but the Federal Government, two months ago released half of the amount to the airlines but many of the carriers want quick release of the funds.
His words, “The value of sale is down because of devaluation of Naira. We have lost 40 per cent of the value of our tickets sold. The South African government does not give us bail out; we source for money like every other firms, pay taxes and need to meet our obligation.”
