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Foreign airlines’ ticket sales rise by N200B
- Why Nigerian carriers can’t compete-NANTA President
Despite the tough economic situation in the country last year that affected the purchasing power of many, Nigerians still embraced air travel as ticket sold by foreign airlines in 2017 was more than N200 billion higher than in 2016.
In 2017, air travel still recorded ticket sales of N511 b ($1.4) from January to October 2017. The 2016 tickets sold as released by Nigerian Civil Authority (NCAA) put earnings of 30 foreign carriers on Nigerian route at N330,548,324,796.84, a little less than N385,909,897,028. 80 sold between January to December in 2015.
Speaking in Lagos, President, National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Bankole Bernard said that the huge tickets sold by foreign airlines shows that Nigeria’s economy is on the upswing.
Frustrated by the by their dwindling fortunes occasioned by low patronage and withholding of their $600 million by the Central Bank in 2015 and 2016, foreign airlines like Emirates stopped its Abuja operations and cut its twice daily frequency to London from Dubai.
United for suite, Kenya Airways also stopped its Abuja operations. Iberia totally stopped services to Lagos from Madrid. It was a bleak period for the aviation sector.
The released of $570 million out of $600m of the carriers’ trapped also engendered confidence in the sector aside availability of Foreign Exchange which made some of the airlines to stage a return to the sector.
Emirates returned to the Abuja route on December 15, 2017while others are expected to return before the middle of the year.
Bernard took a swipe at Nigerian carriers for their inability to compete with their foreign counterpart. He described the problems of Nigeria airlines as self-destruct, stressing that they need to position themselves very well to benefit from huge potentials in the sector.
His words, “Inasmuch as we want our domestic carriers to grow, part of what we have to put into consideration is this. We have to put into consideration that the local airlines, if they live up to expectations, they can work hand in hand with the foreign carriers”.
“I can say to you that in the days of Bellview, Bellview and Air France had a partnership agreement and Bellview was taking passengers from Air France once they drop them in Lagos and take them to Abuja and Port-Harcourt which Air France had no need to go but when these foreign airlines found out that the airlines were not serious, they started operating to those destinations like Port-Harcourt, Abuja.
According to him, “When foreign airlines cancel flights, they take into cognisance the importance to take care of the passengers but when domestic carriers cancel flights, even though you see it on NCAA rolled up banners that after two hours of cancellation of flights take care of your passengers, they do not and there is no recourse to anything”.
So, when you really look at it, the fault is really of that of anybody than the carriers that have refused to position themselves well. In Nigeria, it is a thing of pride that an airline with two aircraft would tell you it wants to go round the world. Definitely, that will lead to poor service and frustrate passengers. Those are the things that they are doing that are killing the business”
He stated that Emirates and other airlines that left Abuja because of the bad runway should not be blamed because of the terrible state of the Abuja airport runway.
He commended the Federal Government for fixing the facility in record time, describing it as phenomenon.
“You are all aware that when Abuja runway was shut down, the government made us to understand that the runway was shut down due to security threat as a result of the bad runway. As it stands today, that project remains a phenomenon in the history of Nigeria that for the first time a government would say we will start a project at so time and will complete it. That was quite commendable”.
He urged the Federal Government to review the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) Nigeria has with 40 countries of the world, adding that they need to review and update the pact in line with new reality on ground.
“We Nigerians need to start thinking beyond personal gains to start thinking that they were put in the position to take care of the industry and not personal gain. If we are able to do that, you will see a lot of rewards that will come to the country. I keep saying it; tell me one carrier in Nigeria that can stand the test of time? None, he added.
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