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Fadugba: Nigeria’s airline fleet too small to compete
- Lacks critical mass
Nigerian-born international expert and Chief Operating Officer (CEO), African Aviation Services Limited, Mr Nick Fadugba, says the country’s small fleet of aircraft will make it practically impossible for it to compete with foreign counterparts.
Speaking with in Lagos recently, Fadugba, who is based in London, United Kingdom, said airlines without critical mass would be at the mercy of foreign airlines that have over 400 aircraft fleet.
The former Secretary-General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA) put the average fleet size in Nigeria at a maximum of 10 aircraft, a number not enough to compete with British Airways that has over 400 aircraft.
His words: “Delta Airlines have over 500 aircraft. Even Ethiopian Airlines has a 110 aircraft. So how can small airlines compete? And I am not being disrespectful by the way, the airlines I am not talking about is fleet size, I am not talking about commitment to the industry but I want to be realistic, because this industry is cut throat. If you don’t have a critical mass in terms of size, in term of good management, in terms of fleet, in terms of good network, it is very hard to succeed.”
Not a few think the industry needs a reorganisation, needing a kind of jolt to get the sector working.
In the last couple of years, many airlines have drastically reduced their fleet to cope with the small operations they do. Some have their airplanes ferried out for maintenance without finances to bring them back.
Medview has gone to one aircraft operation and a lot of other airlines have gone to one aircraft operation.
Despite the fact that the passenger growth has increased, but the amount of aircraft operating in the country has reduced.
The aviation industry to many is shrinking. Despite the fact that the passenger demand is high but the growth in the airlines are going down.
The only airline that is bringing in more airplanes is Air Peace. It is expected that in 2019 government must affect deliberate policy not only on the infrastructure but also in the airlines.
The voluntary suspension coupled with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)-induced suspension, the country’s aviation industry and may have limited choices for air travellers.
The suspension of FirstNation Airways has changed the travel dynamics in the two airlines, Medview and FirstNation are temporarily out of service.
Fadugba said that Nigeria had the market when it comes to aviation in Africa but lamented that, “our airlines are at the moment not of the size that can compete effectively against the big airlines coming into Nigeria.”
He believed the liquidation of defunct Nigeria Airways was not necessary but done wrongly.
“We could have saved it but we didn’t. However, since Nigeria Airways was liquidated there was no airline to reciprocate on bilateral air service agreements, so foreign airlines gained a huge advantage over Nigerian airlines. But now we need to sit down, we need review the situation,” he added.
The aviation expert equated the lucrative routes to an oil bloc, adding that it had become valuable economically.
He said: “These days people don’t like to pay for BASAs but the fact is until we have a stronger airline industry in Nigeria, we need to review the set-up because all airlines in Nigeria including Air Peace are complaining that the system today is unfair, it is not in our interest.”
He called on the Federal Government to support private airlines, stressing that in spite of the deafening call for a national carrier, it should not be done to the disadvantage of private carriers.
