A peep into Nigeria’s aviation in 2017
Nigeria’s aviation scene in 2016 was not totally bad, many look ahead this new year, with much expectation for improvement, writes WOLE SHADARE
Problems in Nigeria’s economy saw flight frequencies reduced. United Airlines and Iberia left, ascribing their action on low and the difficulty in repatriating their humungous sales out of the country.
Emirates and Kenya Airways limited their flights to just Lagos as Abuja flights were stopped.
Delta Air, RwandaAir and South African Airways withstood pressure to wave good bye to the country, but the allure and the attractiveness of the Nigerian market kept them. Several airlines contemplated throwing in the towel.
Because of the shrinkages in capacity, virtually all the carriers changed to smaller airplanes.
They however promised to go back to their super jumbo jets and restoration of their suspended flights when the economy bounces back hopefully in 2017.
In 2016, due to recession a massive downturn in outbound travel was witnessed.
The writing then was on the wall as earlier as February 2016. For the airlines to come back fully and stronger, the country needs to put her house in order economically.
They need to do this before airlines can again be tempted to take a fresh look at the country, its passenger and cargo potentials. On the domestic front, Nigerian airlines groaned as extinction stirred them in the face.
They were confronted with sliding Naira and other factors that conspired to put them out of operation. Resilience rather than seized fund is what has kept the operators till today. Connectivity within Nigeria is still a problem for many of the carriers.
The situation exposed many travellers to road journey across a country where robberies and worse seem to be the order of the day. However, government is still pursuing the dream of forming a proper national airline.
There are indications that lack of funds may tempt government to look for foreign investors to pour mega money to the project and save Nigerians the shame of difficulty in getting affordable fares to their destinations.
Many Nigerians hope that this will come to fruition next year as the country battles to rebuild its tattered economy which still largely depends on oil, a commodity only fetching a fraction of its former price per barrel.
Some said, given the competition which has emerged around Nigeria, it may truly be the best option to forget about a national airline, use the resources where the money is better spent like education, health and infrastructure and have private operators and Ethiopian Airways serve Nigeria through expanded fifth freedom deals, including designating other carriers on new long haul services.
Without sounding overly critical and doubtful, Nigeria, which has ongoing challenges to find the funds for health care system and for education, may not find the money very easily to underwrite a new upstart airline. Oil revenues are still several years away.
Government is concerned about generating money to tackle infrastructure challenges and meet its obligations to the citizens.
Nigeria, being the country with the most vibrant aviation sector, not only in West Africa, but can rival other nations in Africa because of the huge market, also has a number of privately owned airlines operating out of three major airports of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and the Port-Harcourt Airport, serving routes to Kano, Enugu, Owerri, Ilorin, Jos, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Yola, Asaba, Calabar, Uyo, Ibadan by Arik, FirstNation, Dana, Overland, Air Peace, Aero Contractors, Medview, Azman.
It does not come as a surprise therefore that the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos is West Africa’s biggest aviation hub and one of the largest in the continent and host to airlines from around the world which fly to Lagos as their primary entry point to Africa.
All the main Gulf airlines, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates, besides Turkish Airlines are flying daily or double daily before the recession to Lagos, while most of the European airlines too are calling on Lagos either daily or several times a week.
Two United States carriers operated to Lagos and Abuja before United ceased service to Nigeria. Add African airlines also flying into Lagos, led by Ethiopian with several flights a day from Addis Ababa to both Lagos and Abuja, South African Airways and then of course RwandAir, a growing aviation force in their own right.
Aviation infrastructure development in Nigeria is embarrassing and has not shown a result of monumental waste of over N500 billion allegedly used to remodel many of the nation’s aerodromes.
It is hoped that four brand new terminals undergoing construction in Lagos, Abuja, Port- Harcourt and some that are slated for refurbishment this New Year would lift MMIA’s capacity towards the 50+ million mark projected by the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika said was achievable by the time major airports are concessioned in 2017.
Sirika said with the right facilities at the airports, Nigeria’s yearly traffic could be as high as 50 million, adding that many airlines that would have loved to come are delaying their decisions. Also missing is a second runway for Abuja, the second busiest airport in Nigeria.
The runway is long overdue and could prove to be a serious impediment for future growth if not resolved on the double. The airport is expected to be shut for massive rehabilitation while President Muhammadu Buhari has approved funds to a second runway this year.
Year 2017 will be an exciting year for aviation pundits and observers as the country is expected to witness more entrants, stabilization of the Naira, improve infrastructure with the completion of the four new terminals which will see to rise of air traffic.
The year also holds promise for a number of policies that could reshape the sector. But many advised that eyes must be on the ball to prevent loss of focus.
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