‘Lack Of National Carrier Threatens Nigeria’s Code-Sharing Pact’
Mr. Tarkan Ince Is The Country Manager For Turkish Airlines In Nigeria. In This Interview With WOLE SHADARE, He Speaks On Many Issues Affecting The Nigerian Aviation Ranging From Forex, Poor State Of Infrastructure, Poor Code Sharing Opportunity, Travellers’ Welfare And Measures Being Taken By The Airline To Strengthen Its Operations In Nigeria And Globally. Excerpts:
How will you assess the Nigerian aviation sector as one of the key players in the country?
First of all, let me start by saying that Nigeria has a powerful position within the continent. High population and richness in resources are all promising a better future. In terms of international air traffic, it would not be wrong to say that Nigeria is heavily on an outgoing traffic rather than incoming.
Nigeria does not have a national carrier and this prevents foreign airlines from having effective codeshare agreements. Therefore, point-to- point flights within Nigeria comes into play, but it has its pros and cons. For example, getting flight rights to Nigeria is a difficult matter.
Having said that, let me state unequivocally that there are great people with extremely high experience about aviation business in the Nigerian aviation sector. They are doing a highly skilled job considering the infrastructure capabilities.
I believe in near future, we will all feel more the positive outcomes of that constructive experience that we have in Nigeria. On the codesharing arrangement, which I earlier spoke about, Turkish Airlines recently announced the start of a code-sharing partnership with Air Europa effective October 1, this year.
The agreement enables both carriers to tap into new markets and offer their passengers more travel options. At the initial stage of this cooperation, Air Europa is placing its marketing code on Istanbul-Madrid route operated by Turkish Airlines while Turkish Airlines will place its marketing code on Madrid-Las Palmas/Ibiza/ Palma de Mallorca and Madrid – Havana/Santo Domingo/Lima flights operated by Air Europa.
Such an expansion of the code-sharing agreement will allow passengers to benefit from better connectivity and increased travel flexibility between Spain and Turkey and beyond the carriers’ respective networks.
Basically, the agreement allows both companies to continue its growth and expansion and gives us the opportunity to offer our passengers a wide and varied range of connections with all the advantages and comfort of a code-share agreement. Similarly, this is the kind of arrangement that Turkish Airlines would have loved to strike possible deals.
This would have facilitated more flexible flight operations between Nigeria and other countries where Turkish Airlines has flight rights. Again, the fact that Nigeria does not have a national carrier makes it impossible for foreign airlines to have effective codeshare agreements.
What do you consider the greatest challenges for operators in the Nigerian aviation?
Well, besides the difficulty in getting flight rights, the devaluation and forex issues have continued to have a negative effect on airlines. Converting naira to US dollar and transferring it is a big problem in the sector, either your money is stuck or transferred with great loss. Forex issues have a negative chain reaction.
It extends to a point where providing jet fuel for operations becomes a critical matter. Infrastructure needs an upgrade within the airports and also, you have some issues with the security level. Last December, we had a late baggage delivery case in Abuja.
This issue escalated to a point where passengers wanted to take laws into their hands and they managed to find a way and entered into the apron area. Even the authorised employees within the airport don’t possess that right, it is highly restricted, yet civil people were on tarmac.
This, indeed, is a big question mark on the security of the airport on international and global scale. Let me state clearly here that I never meant to demean all the hard work that has been displayed by the Nigerian authorities. That would be an unfair statement. However, for further precautions, I just want to point out this fact.
How have all these challenges affecting your operation in this country?
Let me state that forex issue is really tearing us down. For us to survive as an operator, we have to reflect the forex value on our ticket prices, but then, it becomes difficult for passengers to cope with that change.
As Turkish Airlines, we are really doing our best to keep that reflection at the minimum possible. Forex has serious implications on people’s ability to buy goods and get services. A concrete example is, again, the problem being faced in the area of provision of the jet fuel to run our fleet.
It becomes more difficult because any delay in this matter threatens the connecting flights and, as you may be aware, most of our passengers are on connecting flights.
What are the solutions to these problems threatening the industry?
Right diagnosis is the first step for effective solution. Nigerian government has put forth various solutions for forex issues and still continuing to do so. This is a wonderful approach. Personally, I believe there are other solutions than the Nigerian government can bring into existence, depending on the negotiating country, meaning the foreign country has to come in with its own solutions to negotiate and that is where I believe we would have a positive outcome.
In short, the Nigerian government is giving the full constructive support, so, most of the solutions are there for us to evaluate and advance.
Customer satisfaction is a key operational principle in the aviation sector. Can you share with us how you have been handling customer service issues especially given the recent misunderstanding among air travellers, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and Turkish Airlines?
Thank you for this very important question. Within Turkish Airlines, we have a saying that is a philosophy shared by our personnel. It states ‘Customer is the boss. We have to reach out and touch the hearts of our customer’ and on this note, I would like to state a few things that we are doing as Lagos Station. We have renovated all our offices.
It is taking longer than we anticipated, but we are changing them all. In the airport, we will have two offices – one specifically for baggage and the other one for sales and operation. A new cargo office follows by a new city office in Victoria Island, Lagos.
When all infrastructures are completed, we will have a focused call center to give an enhanced passenger service. Giving out the right information is key for us. For example, if passengers have bought a ticket from a travel agency, they should be informed or they should know that travel agencies, which sell Turkish Airlines’s tickets to them, are their main point of contact, especially when it comes to making changes on the ticket.
We see that passengers are coming to the airline and asking for change. The airline does not possess any authority to make the necessary changes on the ticket because those tickets were bought from a travel agency.
It is the travel agency that holds the right to make the necessary changes. Some agencies inform their passengers about this, some don’t. Another example may be the baggage claim. Passengers have defined rights about the baggage delay or loss and airlines have to comply.
However, the concept of baggage is an issue, some valuables such as rings, money in the baggage, accessories and so on, are not considered to be in the definition of baggage. These kinds of items should not be placed in baggage.
We are doing our best in giving out the right information to the passengers and doing our best to reply to their needs within that scope, which we have to follow and we are working with authorities in Nigeria for an amicable resolution of any matter arising from customers and Turkish Airlines as our strive is to remain one of the most friendly airlines in the world.
You recently unveiled in Nigeria an Aviation Trends 2015 study carried out by Forsa and industry stakeholders have hailed the insights provided by the study. What actually informed the study?
As I have expressed earlier, customer and, in this case, our passengers, are our prime and only focus as an airline. To reach out to them, defining their needs is vital to us. Forsa is a well-known research company. Turkish Airlines Brand department teamed up with Forsa to do a detailed study in 2014.
The study was actually generally on aviation rather than Turkish Airlines at first and then they have enhanced it to specifically cover Turkish Airlines too. In 2015, the team magnified the scope of the research and continued its surveys in various countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Nigeria and other African countries.
And all study results are transparently shared with stakeholders and community through the media for better understanding of the air travellers.On the motivation behind embarking on the study, we noticed that the competition in the aviation industry is increasing steadily. It is also becoming ever more important to identity key trends in aviation and to understand the needs of travellers both in Nigeria and in other countries where we operate.
This allows offer to be optimised and better services to be provided. I must say that the survey gives us well-founded insights about the wishes of passengers from Nigeria. The results are an important basis for fulfilling the needs of customers for a longterm perspective. First-class support – before, during and after the flight – is essential for the success of any airline.
Among other findings, the study shows that social trends are entering the aviation industry. Distinct tendencies are visible in the desire for being online at all times as well as more comfort and more service in all areas of aviation. But these are only a few examples of on-going changes we are or plan to be focusing on.
For over nine years, Turkish Airlines has been very active in the Nigerian market. The importance of Nigeria for innovative airline companies is reflected in the connections, which are being expanded and intensified constantly.
It is now possible to fly to over 280 destinations worldwide from three airports in Nigeria via the hub in Istanbul. So, to answer your question straight, we believe that by offering some insightful information about the global comparison and the Nigerian aviation market, we hope to contribute to creating more diversification and innovation within the Nigerian aviation business. You are known to be flying more international routes than any other airline.
What challenge has this thrown up for you in terms of being able to meet travellers’ expectations? Well, one thing we have noticed with passion is the fact that there is huge diversity in cultures within a single country not to talk of all our countries of operation and this challenge here is obvious, especially in the area of ensuring effective communication towards creating mutual understanding between travellers and us across our countries of operation.
And, indeed, this is critical. In every country actually, in every destination, we have a team headed by a general manager to construct this cumulative knowledge and memory in understanding the travellers’ expectations to serve them better. Our focus on Aviation Trends studies is also an offshoot of our understanding in this respect.
What are your expansion plans to have more landing and take-off points in Nigeria in order to reduce the stress Nigerians pass through for having to travel to Lagos to fly with Turkish Airlines?
At the moment, we are flying from three points from Nigeria, namely: Lagos, Kano and Abuja. We do have expansion plans more than that. Our desire, going by our on-going plan, is to have greater presence in the country.
What do you think the Nigerian government and players in the industry can do towards raising the standard and rating of the aviation sector in the country?
As I have said, there are extremely experienced and knowledgeable people out there. Since I am in the sector, I can see that they are already doing their best in reflecting the necessary steps under the available conditions. Yet, there are always options and possibilities to do better every time to push limits to higher borders; it never ends.
More collaboration is needed from all stakeholders to ensure that all hands are on deck towards making the operating environment friendlier for more player participation. Finally, can you share with us some of the initiatives you want to deepen to demonstrate your commitment to Africa’s largest country?
Nigeria is extremely important and dear to us within the African continent. No matter how tough the circumstances get, we want to stay on the field as much as we can with our Nigerian friends to form better air bridges. We want to deepen and widen our operations, depending on circumstances.
Sometimes, you have to take a step back to jump higher, if it comes to that, we can execute that too, but all our efforts will be dwelling on doing better for air travellers.
There are concrete plans that I would have loved to share with you, but since they are still in the pipeline, it would not be right to talk about them now. Having said this, we will also act as a facilitator to invigorate certain travel segments in order to provide more options for our passengers.
Sometimes, you will see us facilitating Turkey as well as all other destinations that serve as cross-markets to the Nigerian traveller. Take this template and apply to 291 destinations that we fly; you will have a matrix of wonder to widen your world.
